UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

Please  Read  and  Circulate. 


ANOTHER 


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AFFAIR-  ‘ 


T'KSSI»D  At  THIS  * 4 MORGAN  JOURNAL  ”  BOCK  AND  JOB  0FHO8. 

1863. 


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PREFACE. 


U4 


It  has  been  industriously  attempted,  by  those  in  the  interest  of  the  party 
which  secured  the  appointment  of  the  present  Trustees  for  the  Insane  Hospital, 
to  represent  the  discussion  upon  the  attempted  revolution  of  this  Institution,  as 
a  local  affair. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  pages,  that  this  is  no  local,  but  a  Slate  interest 
— that  the  party  laboring  to  get  control  of  this  Institution,  is  a  local  party  of  in¬ 
terested  politicians — that  their  late  attempts  have  been  in  defiance  and  in  viola¬ 
tion  of  the  laws,  facts  and  political  authorities  of  the  State,  and  that  they  have 
actually  used  State  instrumentalities  and  State  officers,  to  accomplish  their  pur¬ 
pose  :  and  that  they  might  have  been  more  successful  in  their  attempts,  but  for 
the  moral  resistance  of  the  immediate  community,  which  is,  also,  of  course,  a 
local  resistance;  and  that  Jacksonville  is  only  the  accidental  field  of  battle, 
*'  ’  between  the  interests  of  humanity  and  the  State,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  private 
Spends  and  interests  of  this  local  partv  of  politicians,  on  the  other. 

The  people  of  Jacksonville,  and  Morgan  county  have  been,  for  four  years,  the 
silent  witnesses  of  the  earnest  and  efficient  efforts  of  the  honest  and,  self-sacri- 
4t-ffcing  officers  of  this  Institution;  under  the  executive  auspices  of  Goy.  French. 
0  successfully  resisting  the  machinations  of  this  same  party,  and  so  far  as  the  In- 
0*ane  Hospital  is  concerned,  saving  to  the  State  many  thousands  of  dollars, 
<■<  by  resisting  the  employment  of  ignorant  and  incompetent  favorites,  whose  blun¬ 
ders  would  have  necessitated  the  alteration  of  plans,  and  the  pulling  down  and 
re-building  of  walls,  as  in  the  instances  of  the  Blind  and  Deaf  and  Dumb  Institu- 
■  tions  :  to  say  nothing  of  their  healthy  moral  influence  „  in  the  administration  of 
•  this  Hospital,  so  necessary  for  the  removal  of  the  umral  and  intellectual  obliqui¬ 
ties  of  the  insane  ;  and  of  thegood’those  men  have  done  to  the  State,  in  resisting 
and  bringing  to  open  daylight,  this  intrigue  and  disregard  of  law  and  honesty, 
thus  enabling  this  summary  of  events,  too  numerous  for  complete  detail,  to  be 
spread  before  the  people  of  the  whole  State. 

The  “  Morgan  Journal, : ”  through  whose  columns,  these  exposures  have  been 
made,  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  whole  State,  for  its  independent  course,  and  th«? 
approval  and  aid  of  several  other  papers  of  the  State,  which  up  to  the  present 
time  have  noticed  the  subject,  show  those  presses  to  be  above  the  suspicion  of 
truckling  to  any  such  political  combinations  to  subvert  the  public  charities  of 
the  State  from  their  high  and  holy  purposes,  to  the  ends  of  private  gain  and  selfish 
ambition. 


«v 

& 


01 


-4  K. 


4 


Mil  ACE. 


Chapters  I,  II,  III,  and  IV  of  this  pamphlet, have  been  published  i a  successive 
numbers  of  the  “Morgan  Journal,”  and  the  official  proceedings  and  disclosure* 
in  Chapters  V  and  VI  have  been  published  in  the  “Morgan  Journal  ”  and  “Slate 
Register,”  and  the  fact3  and  authoritative  statements  of  these  “  Reports,”  and 
the  “  Protests  ”  of  the  minority  of  the  present  Board,  have  not  been  attempted 
to  be  controverted,  officially  or  otherwise,  and  cannot  be  controverted  j  bectu*-* 
these  facts  and  documents  are  all  authentic  *bd  responsible,  aud,  epe*  to  *.b* 
aspeefcon  of  the  public. 


» 


♦ 


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I  .  A  * 


♦ 


REVIEW. 


CHAPTER  I. 

For  gome  montha.past,  the  elements  of  society  in  Morgan  county, 
and  to  some  considerable  extent,  throughout  the  State,  have  been 
unusually  perturbed  by  a  series  of  facts,  believed  to  inculpate  the 
newly  appointed  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Insane  Hospital,  and 
even  to  involve  the  Executive  of  the  State,  in  an  attempted  infrac¬ 
tion  of  the  principles  of  law  and  justice,  and  the  prostitution  of  a 
sacred  charity  to  the  cupidity  of  private  interest  and  selfish  am¬ 
bition. 

It  is  now  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  there  is  a  party  in  the 
State,  of  greater  or  less  number  and  power,  hostile  to  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  the  Insane  Hospital  as  existing  for  the  last  four  years 
under  the  auspices  of  the  majority  of  the  old  Board  of  Trustees. 
Let  us  enquire  then, 

t.  What  are  the  real  relations  of  the  People  of  the  State , 
their  convict  ions ,  feelings  and  views  towards  this  Institution , 
as  expressed  through  their  lawful  representatives,  trustees,  com¬ 
mittees,  and  reports,  up  to  the  time  of  the  present  public  discussion  ? 

2. .  Who  are  the  disaffected  and  hostile  party,  and  why  are  they 
disaffected  ? 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Legislature,  at  its  extra  session 
of  June,  1852,  in  consequence  of  reports  set  on  foot  and  circu¬ 
lated  especially  among  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  and  to 
some  extent,  corroborated  by  a  report  of  a  committee,  of  which 
Mr.  Ames, of  Putman  county, was  chairman — created  a  commission 
of  three  disinterested  men,  selected  from  different  parts  of  the 
State — one  a  lawyer,  N.  W.  Edwards,  of  Springfield,  chairman 
of  the  commission,  the  other  two  physicians,  Dr.  Eldridge,  of  Chi¬ 
cago,  and  Dr.  Green  of  Mt,  Vernon, — commissioned  and  empow¬ 
ered  to  investigate  and  collect  facts  and  testimony  of  sworn  wit¬ 
nesses  respecting  the  “superintendence  and  management”  of  the 
Hospital  cor  the  Insane — an  I  to  report  upon  the  same  to  the  next 


* 


6 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


session  of  the  Legislature.  This  was  considered  an  earnest  and 
bona  fide  transaction  the  part  of  the  Legislature,  paid  for  by  the 
people’s  money,  and  intended  to  furnish  the  true  data  for  the  set¬ 
tlement  of  these  noxious  agitations.  These  Commissioners,  af¬ 
ter  weeks  of  patient  and  elaborate  investigation,  reported  the  fol¬ 
lowing  facts : 

Respecting  the  mechanical  superintendence,  about  which  ques¬ 
tions  existed,  the  Commissioners  in  their  report,  made  to  the  Legis¬ 
lature  at  its  session  of  1853,  say  :  “The  building  is  of  a  superi¬ 
or  order,  capable  of  accommodating  as  many  patients  as  the  Revr 
Jersey  Institution,  which  cost  when  prepared  for  the  reception  of 
patients  §152,801  80.  The  arrangement  for  warming  and  ventil¬ 
ation,  bath  rooms,  water  closets,  supply  of  water,  draining  and 
cooking,  will  compare  with  any  building  of  a  similar  kind  in  the 
United  States  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  building  for  its  architectur¬ 
al  beauty,  elegant  and  substantial  workmanship,  in  all  its  parts,  its 
adaptation  to  the  purpose  designed,  is  such  as  will  be  a  credit  to 
the  State,  to  the  mechanic  and  the  officers  of  the  Institution.” 

%  sj?  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

With  regard  to  the  Medical  and  Mechanical  ■  Superintendence 
they  say : 

“It  is  admitted  on  all  hands,  that,  in  the  construction  of  the 
building,  no  one  could  have  given  more^satisfaction,  than  both  the 
Medical  and  Mechanical  Superintendents — nor  was  there  ever  the 
same  amount  of  labor  and  constant  attention  on  the  part  of  all,  for 
the  same  compensation.” 

Of  the  Board  of  Trustees  they  report : 

“  In  all  contracts  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  great 
care  has  been  taken  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  State,  and  while 
the  most  rigid  economy  has  been  practiced,  avoiding* all  wasteful 
expenditures  of  money,  they  have  provided  liberally,  everything 
that  experience  has  shown  to  promote  the  welfare,  comfort  and 
happiness  of  the  Insane,  and  thus  accomplish  the  object  for  which 
such  Institutions  are  established.”  *  *  *  *  * 

“They  have  been  remarkably  careful  in  making  and  drawing  all 
their  contracts,  and  seeing  that  they  were  well  executed.  They 
have  not  been  extravagant”  (as  charged  in  Mr.  Ames’  report)  “in 
the  purchase  of  furniture,  in  the  allowance  of  more  rooms  or  fur¬ 
niture  than  were  necessary  for  the  officers  ;  they  have  studied  the 
best  interests  of  the  State,  have  properly  applied  the  funds,  and 
have  erected  a  very  superior  building  for  the  cost,  and  we  are  of 
the  opinion  that  the  amount  paid  for  superintending  is  less  than 
has  ever  been  paid  for  such  a  building.”  *  *  *  * 


REVIEW. 


7 


“The  charge”  (in  Mr.  Ames5  report)  “thaf  too  many  rooms 
were  appropriated  or  designed  for  the  use  of  the  Officers  or  their 
families,  or  that  there  was  extravagance  in  the  purchase  of  fur¬ 
niture,  or  that  any  act  was  done  by  the  Board  which 
under  the  circumstances  was  not  justifiable ,  is  not 
true.” 

After  a  brief  allusion  to  some  casualties  about  which  charges 
of  incompetency  had  been  made  to  the  public  and  to  members  of 
the  Legislature,  their  testimony  is  this  : 

“That  the  officers  were  honest  and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duties,  cannot  be  denied.55  *  *  *  *  “ In  the  treat¬ 

ment  and  management  of  the  Insane ,  after  the  7nost  thorough 
investigations ,  we  have  had  NO  facts  in  the  evidence  prejudi¬ 
cial  to  the  character  of  the  Medical  Superintendent,  or  his  Assis¬ 
tant.55 

After  this,  a  joint  committee  of  thirteen,  appointed  by 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  (of  the  Legislature  of 
1858,  to  which  this  commission  reported,  )to  examine  the  “Illinois 
State  Hospital  for  the  Insane,55  visited  and  examined  the  Hospital, 
and  in  their  report,  after  reviewing  and  confirming  the  substantial 
facts  of  Mr.  Edwards5  report,  offered  the  following  conclusion : 
“This  result,  under  all  the  circumstances,  is  a  matter  of  just  pride, 
and  the  simple  recital  of  the  facts,  is  the  most  fitting  tribute  to 
the  ability  and  efficiency  of  the  Superintendent  and  the  Assistant 
Physician.  The  good'  opinions  they  have  won,  it  is  hoped,  by  an 
unremitting  assiduity  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  they  will 
continue  to  deserve.55 

This  testimony  should  be  marked  and  remembered.  Its  unequiv¬ 
ocal  directness,  its  authority  and  its  authenticity.  What  higher 
and  more  reliable  assurance  could  the  Legislature,  the  Executive, 
and  the  people  of  the  State  have  asked  or  received,  as  a  basis  of. 
confidence,  than  such  facts,  verified  and  established  by  such  au¬ 
thorities? 

It  mav  be  noticed  here  that  the  Governor  himself  visited  the  In- 
stitution  in  company  with  the  last  named  committee  of  the  Legis¬ 
lature  and  personally  expressed  to  some  of  our  citizens,  his  appro¬ 
bation  of  the  management  and  condition  of  the  Institution, in  terms 
no  less  satisfactory  than  those  employed  by  the  committee. 

The  report  of  the  Trustees  for  the  year  1851  52,  made  to  the 
Legislature  of  1853,  contains  the  following  table,  showing  the 
very  gratifying  fact,  that  only  one  Institution  of  this  bet  stands 
higher  in  its  per  cent  of  cures,  or  lower  in  its  per  cent  of  deaths; 


3 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


while  in  the  cost  to  the  State  of  treatment,  that  of  our  Hospital  i$ 
$38,88,  while  the  average  is  $62,00. 

TABLE 

Showing  the  per  cent,  of  cures,  costs  and  deaths  in  neighboring  Institutions, 
according  to  the  most  recent  reports  at  hand. 


Indiana, . 

Ohio, . 

Kentucky, . 

Virginia, . 

Pennsylvania, . 

New  York, . 

Massachusetts, . 

Rhode  Island, . 

New  Jersey, . 

South  Carolina, . 

Average  of  ten  States, 
Illinois, . 


per  ct.  of. cost  of 
cures.  I  cures. 

per  ct.  • 
deathi. 

24 

6 

27 

64.32 

6.& 

10 

16 

9 

63.22 

10 

29 

■■■■■— 

4 

14 

6 

25 

58.45 

13 

14 

8 

15 

5 

17 

9 

18.4 

62.00 

8.3 

27.5 

38.88 

4.3 

•The  blanks  in  cost  are  not  reported. 


Who,  then,  in  the  face  of  these  facts  and  authorities  was  not  sat¬ 
isfied?  IIow  is  it  to  be  accounted  for,  that  at’  the  very  first  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  present  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Insane  Hospital,  in 
a  few  hours  after  its  organization,  the  majority  of  the  members 
present  at  the  meeting, became  fully  and  irrevocably  committed  to 
the  revolution  and  disorganization  of  the  Institution?  Why  have 
they  pushed  this  purpose,  to  the  neglect  of  everything  else,  to  the 
present  time  ? 

The  question  thus  forced  upon  the  public, assumes  an  importance 
in  relation  to  the  history  of  this  Hospital,  which  imperatively  de¬ 
mands  the  attention  of  every  citizen  who  appreciates  the  ends  the 
Institution  is  designed  to  answer. 

We  learn  from  Mr.  Edwards’  report,  that  there  were  divisions 
existing,  and  a  dissatisfied  party  even  in  the  Board  of  Trustees; 
and  these  searching  and  cautious  investigators  profess  also  to  have 
discovered  the  cause. 

On  page  5th,  of  their  printed  report,  the  Commissioners  say: 
“It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  has  not  been  harmony  in  the  Board  ; 
the  chief  cause  of  which  has  been  on  account  of  the  offices  to  be 
filled,  and  the  letting  of  contracts  ;  and  to  such  an  extent  has 
this  feeling  prevailed,  that  only  a  bare  majority  meets  to  transact 
business.” 

Now  this  majority  consisted  of  Messrs.  Holmes,  Morton,  Tur¬ 
ner  and  Beevaft,  while  Messrs.  Warren,  Dickson  and  Hurst, 


REVIEW. 


9 


were  the  minority  in  the  Board  of  seven  members,  instead  of  nine 
as  are  constituted  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  last  winter. 

Messrs.  Craven  and  Dexter  of  the  present  Board,  in  their  pro¬ 
test  against  its  action,  show  from  the  records  of  the  Hospital,  that 
this  minority  of  Warren,  Dickson  and  Hurst  erected  themselves  in¬ 
to  an  acting  Board,  which  was  declared  by  Governor  French  and 
his  counsel  to  be  illegal ;  that  the  only  offices  then  to  be  filled 
were  those  of  Steward,  Treasurer  and  Secretary,  and  that  they 
elected  two  of  their  number,  viz  :  Messrs.  Warren  and  Hurst  to  fill 
these  three  vacancies. 

Now,  again,  previously  to  the  departure  from  Jacksonville,  of 
Mr.  Edwards’  commission,  Mr.  Edwards  made  a  visit  to  the  Super¬ 
intendent  of  the  Hospital,  and  as  a  friend  advised  him  to  resign 
his  office.  The  Superintendent  had  previously  been  assured  by 
Mr.  Edwards  that  the  report  about  to  be  made,  would,  from  the 
facts  they  had  collected,  be  entirely  creditable  to  all  the  officers 
of  the  Institution. 

But  Mr.  Edwards  had  now  to  inform  him  that  there  was  a  con¬ 
spiracy  of  certain  political  elements  against  him  ;  and  that  such 
was  their  influence  and  power, that  they  would  succeed  in  controlling 
the  appointment  of  a  Board  that  would  eject  him  regardless 
of  their  report.  Of  these,  he  specified  Messrs.  James  Dunlap  and 
J.  A.  McClernand  ;  the  former  as  having  a  formidable  political 
power  throughout  the  State,  and  the  latter  being  popular  and 
influential  in  the  South  of  the  State,  and  who  was  also  president 
of  the  convention  that  nominated  the  present  Governor,  and  both 
of  whom  went  for  Gov.  Matteson,  and  would  exert  great  influence. 
His  advice  and  reasons  were  repeated  to  other  persons  of  this  com¬ 
munity.  Mr.  Edwards  seemed  sincere  and  to  know  what  he  affirm¬ 
ed  ;  and  yet  those  who  heard  were  incredulous.  This  transpired 
in  December  1852,  before  the  above  reports  on  the  Hospital  were 
made.  » 

On  the  first  of  March,  1853,  Mr.  Edwards  again  visited  the 
Hospital,  and  with  the  same  sincerity,  and  earnestness,  repeated 
the  sarnie  advice;  and  said,  that  as  he  had  predicted  last  Fall,  he 
believed  the  present  Board  had  been  selected  for  the  purpose  of 
revolution,  and  he  still  believed  they  would  succeed;  at  any  rate 
said  he,  “they  say  they  have  got  their  men  ;”  and  as  one  of  the 
ostensible  evidences  of  the  success  of  the  disaffected  party,  he 
mentioned  the  fact  that  they  had  secured  their  own  appointment, 
and  that  of  their  peculiar  friends,  on  the  Board  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb.  * 

_ •  _ _ _  ,  _ 

*  A  law  of  the  last  Legislature  required  that  a  majority  of  the  Board  for  the 


10 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


To  understand  the  cause  of  Col.  Dunlap’s  dissatisfaction  and 
hostility,  it  is  necessary  to  notice  the  fact  that  he  had, at  an  early 
day,  undertaken  to  secure  for  his  brother  the  office  of  Superinten¬ 
dent  of  the  Hospital;  and  failing  in  this  attempt,  subsequently  that 
of  Assistant  Physician,  both  of  which  efforts  had  been  well  backed 
up  with  the  most  urgent  electioneering  efforts.  This  cause  of  dis¬ 
appointment  and  chagrin  is  disclosed  and  confessed  by  Dunlap, 
in  the  publication  made  by  himself  and  Warren,  in  the  Constitu- 
tionist  of  Juno  1st,  as  the  Hospital  records  and  other  documents 
extensively  known  in  this  community  also  show. 

Two  well  defined  parties  in  relation  to  the  Hospital  for  the 
Insane,  thus  come  distinctly  into  view.  On  the  one  hand,  an 
acting  majority  of  the  former  Board  through  th^ir  Biennial  Deport 
to  the  Legislature  vouching  for  the  efficiency  of  the  present  Su¬ 
perintendent  ;  then  the  Report  of  a  legislative  commission,  endow¬ 
ed  with  full  powers  to  investigate  and  report;  and  afterwards  that 
of  the  joint  committee  of  the  two  Houses,  whose  visit  was  made  iii 
company  with  the  Governor,  constituting  the  most  unquestionable 
authority  upon  this  subject,  reported  to  the  Legislature  and  the 
people  of  the  State — facts  and  opinions  and  conclusions  the  most 
conclusive  and  convincing  of  the  competency,  fidelity,  and  efficien¬ 
cy  of  all  the  officers  of  the  institution. 

With  regard  then  to  the  faithful  and  comperent  management 
of  this  Institution,  it  seems  that  the  acting  majority  of  the  Old 
Board  of  Trustees  were  satisfied — the  Commissioners  were  satisfied, 
vouching  fully  and  unequivocally  for  the  competency  of  the  Super¬ 
intendent  and  the  general  correctness  of  management,  not  only  by 
the  resident  officers  of  the  Institution,  but  by  the  acting  majority 
of  the  Trustees.  The  Commissioners  sustained  themselves  in  this 
opinion,  by  an  array  of  facts  and  testimony  creditable  to  these  of¬ 
ficers  and  to  the  State, to  a  degree  almost  unprecedented  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  such  institutions.  The  members  of  the  Legislature  were 
.satisfied,  as  the  following  item  will  additionally  show  :  Last  win¬ 
ter  a  strenuous  effort  was  made  in  the  j  oint  committee,  above  nam- 
od,  toward  the  alteration  of  the  charter,  so  as  to  empower  the  Board 
of  Trustees  to  remove  all  the  officers  •  of  the  Institution  at  will. 
This  proposition,  the  immediate  end  of  which  was  evident,  found 
but  a  single  advocate  in  this  committee  of  thirteen.  This  advocate, 
a  member  of  the  House,  contrary  to  all  parliamentary  usage,  after 

Deaf  and  Dumb,  should  reside  out  of  Morgan  County, ‘yet,  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  that  Board,  were  taken, contrary  to  law, from  Morgan  County, among 
whom  are  James  Dunlap,  John  A.  McClernand,  W.  B.  Warren,  A.  C.  Dixon  See. 

But  in  case  of  the  Insane  Hospital,  although  the  law  did  not  require  it,  a  ma¬ 
jority  have  been  appointed  from  other  counties. 


REVIEW* 


1  i 


Viis  proposition  had  met  no  favor  in  the  Committee,  again  brought 
>t  forward  upon  the  floor  of  the  House,  where  it  met  a  signal  de¬ 
feat  as  before  the  Committee.  This  effort  was  made  by  the  Hon. 
Wm.  Brown,  of  Jacksonville,  who  is  now  the  paid  Attorney  of  the 
present  Board  of  Trustees.  If  the  House  and  the  Committees 
were  not  satified,  why  did  they  so  promptly  refuse  countenance  to 
every  attempt  to  revolutionize  ? 

The  existing  administration  of  the  Hospital  affairs  wras  fully  sat¬ 
isfactory  to  the  responsible  majority  of  the  Board  of  trustees,  to 
the  Commissioners,  to  the  joint  Committee,  and  to  the  entire  Leg¬ 
islature,  variously  and  unequivocally  expressed. 

Now  where  else  can  we  turn  to  find  a  party  not  satisfied,  but  to 
the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party?  Do  the  people  of  Jacksonville 
and  Morgan  county,  or  the  Legislature,  or  the  people  of  the  State 
know  of  any  other  disaffected  party  than  this? 

These  men  are  known  from  the  recorded  history  of  the  Institu¬ 
tion,  and  from  the  testimony  of  numerous  living  witnesses,  to  have 
been  disappointed  and  thwarted  from  time  to  time  by  the  vigilance 
and  activity  of  sagacious  and  faithful  public  functionaries,  in  ma¬ 
ny  of  their  attempts  at  securing  for  themselves  and  their  friends 
and  relatives  places  of  trust  and  emolument  and  contracts  in  this 
Institution.  Pass  around  the  question,  citizens  of  the  State : 
where  among  you  can  be  found,  a  party  that  has  taken  ground 
against  the  existing  administration  of  the  Insane  Hospital,  against 
your  Legislature  and  Commissioners,  and  the  clear  and  ex¬ 
pressed  conditions  of  the  law  on  this  subject,  except  this  diminu¬ 
tive  party?  in  which,  however,  there  were  elements  against  which 
the  Superintendent  and  others  Were  warned  as  possessing  a  formi¬ 
dable  political  power  throughout  the  State,  and  especially  in  the 
South  part  of  the  State  ;  and  again  in  the  nominating  convention, 
constituting  even  apolitical  paternity  of  the  present  governor  off 
the  State,  and  therefore  destined  to  wield  a  controlling  influence  in 
the  formation  of  the  next  Board.  No  other  party  has  manifested 
itself  by  any  tangible  signs  of  existence. 

Conjecture,  suspicion  and  theory  have  had  their  day.  Time 
and  facts  have  now  grown  old  enough  to  speak  for  themselves.  Is 
there,  or  is  there  not,  on  foot  a  series  of  efforts,  thus  far  baffled, 
so  far  as  this  institution  is  concerned,  but  not  annihilated,  to  make 
the  sanctities  of  a  great  public  beneficence  in  behalf  of  the  most 
helpless  and  dependent  of  the  afflicted  of  our  race,  promotive  of 
the  power  and  aggrandizement  of  a  party,  instead  of  serving,  first, 
last  and  highest,  the  great  cause  of  humanity,  for  which  it  was  in- 
stituted  ?  Shall  tins  party  succeed  in  infusing  its  spirit  into  this  In- 


12 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


stitution,  and  extending  its  complete  control  over  it?  Is  not  a 
party  even  now,  in  fact,  infusing  into  the  arteries  of  this  institu¬ 
tion  the  defiling  influence  of  political  ambition  and  sordid  interest? 
Let  the  people  examine  the  facts. 

i'  •  CHAPTER  II. 

It  has  been  shown  that  there  exists,  in  reference  to  the  Hospital 
for  the  Insane,  but  two  parties  in  the  State.  The  party  of  the 
government  and  the  people,  and  the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party  : 

That  the  former  of  these  parties  had,  through  al]  of  its  organs, 
through  its  former  Board  of  trust,  its  Legislative  Commission  of 
three,  its  Legislative  Committee  of  thirteen,  the  laws  and  legisla¬ 
ture,  expressed  its  own  entire  approbation  ;  and  by  its  most  highly 
authenticated  facts  and  documents,  had  given  the  people  of  the 
State  the  most  unequivocal  and  unquestionable  basis  of  public 
confidence  in  the  management  of  the  Institution. 

That  the  latter  party,  at  an  early  day  in  the  history  of  the 
Hospital,  became  an  opposing  party  from  obviously  interested 
motives  ;  and  that  notwithstanding  they  failed  in  their  ends,  in  all 
the  investigations  which  have  been  called  forth  in  consequence  of 
their  vigorously  plied  efforts,  agents  and  instrumentalities,  to  in¬ 
fluence  the  ears  and  eyes  of  the  Legislature  and  the  people,  they 
still  threatened  their  power,  and  have  boasted  their  success  in  in¬ 
fluencing  and  controlling  the  appointments  to  the  new  Board  of 
trustees. 

And,  next,  it  is  proposed  to  inquire,  with  what  truth  have  they 
threatened,  worked  and  boasted  ;  in  other  words  are  the  acts  of  the 
present  Board  based  in  good  faith  upon  the  principles,  ltvws,  facts, 
and  conclusions  of  the  Government  variously  expressed,  or  are 
they  subservient  to  the  selfish,  vindictive  and  revolutionary  aims 
and  ends  of  the  equally  well  defined  opposing  Dunlap  and  War¬ 
ren  party  ?  , 

In  order  to  a  demonstrably  just  classification  of  the  events  and 
actors  bearing  testimony  upon  this  question,  facts  and  footprints, 
prior  to  the  appointment  of  the  present  Board,  may  be  first  noticed 
as  affording  a  programme  and  prima  facie  evidence  of  its  inten¬ 
tion  and  end. 

And,  now,  while  near  them,  let  the  reader  see  with  his  own  eyes, 
some  of  the  very  fountains  from  which  start  the  streams  whose 
course  and  confluence  it  is  proposed  to  survey.  Let  it  here  be  ob¬ 
served, 

1st.  That  the  acting  majority  of  the  former  Board,  Messrs. 


REVIEW. 


n 

Holmes,  Morton, Turner,  and  Becraft,  are  all  independent  farmers, 
who  have  been  residents  of  Morgan  County  from  twenty  to  thirty 
years  ;  against  whose  strict  integrity  and  honor,  no  responsible  al¬ 
legation  or  poison  of  malice  can  avail. 

Under  the  disinterested  and  indefatigable  supervision  of  these 
men,  the  Institution  was  brought  from  an  early  beginning  of  its 
walls  to  its  present  state  of  complete  organization  and  distinguish¬ 
ed  success, — to  which  they  gave  hundreds  of  days  of  their  time, 
and  for  which,  as  all  the  records  of  the  Institution  show,  they 
never  asked  or  received  one  dollar,  either  of  direct  compensation, 
or  of  indirect  profit. 

2d.  That  Messrs,  Dunlap,  Warren,  Dixon,  Hurst,  McClernand, 
fcc. ,  whose  position  relative  to  the  Hospital  interest  has  been  al¬ 
ready  indicated,  have  been  familiarly  known  in  Morgan  and  San¬ 
gamon  Counties,  and  to  the  members  of  the  Legislature, especially, 
and  extensively  throughout  the  State,  as  professed  politicians,  lia¬ 
ble  to  the  biases  of  political  influences  ;  and  for  years,  they  have 
spent  a  large  part  of  their  time  at  Springfield  during  the  sessions 
of  the  legislature,  either  holding  or  seeking  offices,  emoluments, 
or  contracts,  for  themselves  or  their  friends. 

It  might  be  seen  a  priori ,  that  between  such  element# 
as  have  been  mentioned,  there  must,  in  all  probability,  arise  in  the 
administration  of  a  vast  public  interest,  involving  the  use  and  ex¬ 
penditure  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars,  differences  and 
dissensions  as  wide  as  the  differences  of  the  principles  and  views  of 
duty  among  the  men  thus  brought  together  in  the  same  Board. 

Let  us  take,  in  addition  to  the  State  documents  cited  and  quoted 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  confessions  of  the  parties  themselves. 

On  the  7th  of  March  1851,  just  one  week  from  the  first  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  Board  of  which  these  parties  were  members,  and  before 
the  Board  was  legally  organized,  Messrs.  Warren,  Dixon,  and 
Hurst,  three  of  a  board  of  seven,  constituted  themselves  an  acting 
Board,  filled  vacancies,  and  elected  Warren  Secretary  and  Treasur¬ 
er,  and  Hurst  Steward,  the  only  vacant  offices  at  that  time  in  the 
Institution,  and  then  adjourned.  Dixon  got  no  office,  but  he  wa^j 
in  the  lumber  trade  at  the  time,  and  great*  quantities  of  lumber 
were  of  course  in  demand  for  the  construction  of  the  building. 
These  facts  stand  now  written  upon  the  Hospital  records  in  the 
handwriting  of  W.  B.  Warren,  as  Secretary. 

In  the  “Jacksonville  Constitutionist,”  of  the  first  of  June  1858, 
Messrs.  Warren  and  Dunlap,  in  an  attempted  defence  of  their 
conduct,  make  the  same  concessions  over  their  own  names.  They 
there  say :  “The  remaining  Trustees,  Messrs.  Hurst,  Warren  and 


14 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


Dixon,  fea ring  that  something  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the 
Institution  was  going  on,  believing  and  being  advised  of  the  im¬ 
portance  of  an  immediate  organization,  filled  the  vacancies,  by 
electing  Judge  Thomas  and  Murray  Me  Conn  el,  Esq.,  and  then  or¬ 
ganized  the  Board;  elected  Judge  Thomas,  President,  W.  B.  War¬ 
ren,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  W.  S.  Hurst,  Steward,”  &c. 

The  benevolent  intention  here  claimed  as  the  motive  to  this  most 
singular  and  unlawful  proceeding,  having  been  thwarted  by  a  pro¬ 
test  and  other  opposition  of  the  other  members,  and  utterly  defeat¬ 
ed  by  Governor  French  and  his  legal  consellors,  they  became  so 
disgusted,  that  they  eventually  absented  themselves  from 
the  business  and  meetings  of  the  Board,  though  stiil  remain¬ 
ing  under  the  obligation  of  their  constitutional  oath,  “to  faithful¬ 
ly  discharge  the  duties  of  Trustees  to  the  best  of  their  skill 
and  abilities  during  the  term  of  their  appointment .”  In  the 
words  of  Messrs.  Warren  and  Dunlap,  (in  the  “Constitutionist” 
just  quoted,)  “The  Minority  of  the  Board,  Messrs.  Warren, 
Dixon,  and  Hurst,  unwilling  to  share  responsibility  in  a  Board 
where  their  rights  were  not  respected,  determined,  and  so  express¬ 
ed  themselves,  to  meet  no  longer  with  the  Majority” — that  is,  the 
right  of  three  members  of  seven,  to  organize  themselves  into  a 
Spurious  Board,  elect  themselves  into  all  the  offices  of  trust  and 
profit  in  the  Institution,  and  control  and  appropriate  the  funds  of 
the  State,  and  be  sustained  by  the  other  four  and  the  Governor 
besides  ;  under  the  pretext  put  forth  at  this  late  day,  of  “fearing 
that  something  injurious  to  the  interest  of  the  Institution  was  go¬ 
ing  on !” 

The  reader  has  now  seen  fountain  No.  1. 

In  the  same  Const! tutionist  ”  article  of  June  1st,  occurs  this 
confession.  “It  is  true,  that  Col.  Dunlap  voted  for  his  brother  ; 
it  is  true  that  he  desired  and  used  his  best  endeavors  to  have 
him  elected ,  and  he  would  have  been  a  monster  to  have  done  oth¬ 
erwise.  Who  is  there,  deserving  the  name  of  man,  so  devoid  of 
fraternal  affection,  as  not  to  desire  to  forward  the  interests  of  a 
brother,  and  to  elect  him  to  ^honorable  and  lucrative  position.” 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  for  the  Hospital, held  in  Jacksonville, 
July  26th,  1851,  and  found  on  page  78  of  the  Hospital  records,  is 
the  following:  “On  motion  of  Mr.  Morton,  the  Board  proceeded 
to  the  election  of  Assistant  Physician;  Mr.  Dixon  nominated  Dr. 
K.  J.  Dunlap” — “Dr.  E.  J.  Dunlap  received  three  votes.” 

It  is  needless  to  make  here  a  detailed  statement  of  the  facts  and 
evidences  now  in  possession  of  the  citizens  of  Morgan  county,  to 
show  to  the  people  of  the  whole  State,  the  influences  attempted  to 


REVIEW. 


15 


be  thrown  into  the  action  of  the  Board,  first  to  get  Dr.  Dunlap, 
(brother to  Col.  Dunlap)  elected  Superintendent,  and  afterwards 
Assistant  Physician.  As  the  schemes  and  instrumentalities  which 
Col.  Dunlap  is  capable  of  bringing  to  bear  upon  a  case  in  which 
a  great  self-interest  in  money  or  power  is  at  stake,  is  matter  of 
Railroad,  State  Bonds  and  Shawneetown  Bank  demonstration  and 
experience  to  the  people  of  the  Whole  State,  too  recent  to  be  now 
forgotten — it  is  superfluous  to  offer  a  parade  of  facts  and  elabor¬ 
ate  arguments,  to  show  with  how  much,  and  what  sort  of  methods 
and  instrumentalities  he  would  operate,  when  he  “desired  and  used 
his  best  endeavors”  “to  forward  the  interest  of  a  brother,  and 
elect  him  to  honorable  and  lucrative  position .”  And  with 
what  degree  of  persistence  to  the  very  end,  he  would  ply  such 
means  and  instrumentalities,  with  his  pride  and  ambition  addition¬ 
ally  goaded  by  his  brother’s  defeat  in  both  these  attempts,  Col. 
Dunlap’s  past  history  best  indicates  ;  but  let  the  people  of  the 
State  beware  in  time,  lest' when  too  late,  they  shall  find  this  to  have 
been  a  matter  of  disgraceful  and  ruinous  Insane  Hospital  demon¬ 
stration  and  mournful  experience. 

The  reader  has  now  seen  fountain  No.  2;  and  has  also  an  emin¬ 
ence  from  which  the  confluence  of  their  waters  is  distinctly  visi¬ 
ble.  .  1  /■  ,■  •  #  '  • 

It  should  be  stated  here,  that  not  only  the  majority  of  the  Board 
which  had,  in  the  latter  instance,  rejected  the  application  and  influ¬ 
ences  in  behalf,  of  his  brother,  but  the  Superintendent  Dr.  Higgins 
also,  at  this-  point  became  obnoxious  to  Col.  Dunlap  for  refusing, 
even  under  proposition  of  reward ,  to  use  his  influence  with  the 
Board  in  favor  of  the  election  of  Dr.  Dunlap  to  the  office  of  .  As¬ 
sistant  Physician,  which  he  could  not  conscientiously  do. 

A  few  clays  prior  to  the  meeting  at  Springfield,  of  the  Conven¬ 
tion  which  nominated  Gov.  Matteson,  Col.  Dunlap  in  conversation 
respecting  the  Hospital  affairs  with  Aquilla  Becraft,  affirmed,  per¬ 
haps  incautiously,  from  the  chagrin  and  irritation  of  chafed  ambi¬ 
tion,  “  I  am  after  these  officers  of  the  Insane  Hospital;  I  am  go¬ 
ing  up  to  the  convention  to  attend  to  their  case.”  The  conversa¬ 
tion  turned  upon  the  character  of  the  then  probable  nominee, 
Mr.  Gregg,  who  it  was  urged  could  not  bo  tampered  writh  :  the  CoL 
replied,  “I  don’t  care  who  may  be  the  nominee  of  the  Convention  ; 
I  and  my  friends  have  the  influence,. ’and  we  will  have  things  so 
arranged  that  we  will  make  a  clean  sweep  of  them.”  This  is  a 
mere  straw  showing  which,  way  the  wind  blew. 

This  occurred  in  April,  1852.  In  June  following,  was  the  extra 
session  of  the  Legislature.  The  Hospital  was  unfinished — not 


15 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


half  its  wards  ready  for  occupancy — so  that  there  was  not  capaci¬ 
ty  to  receive  even  one  patient  from  each  of  the  counties  of  the 
State.  A  charge  was  urged  in  the  Legislature  against  the  man¬ 
agement  of  the  Institution  for  not  receiving  more  patients  from 
Madison  County,  which  had  already  had  one  in  the  Hospital.  A 
special  committee  from  the  House,  of  which,  Mr.  Ames,  of  Putnam 
county,  was  Chairman,  was  thereupon  dispatched.  After  spending 
an  hour  or  two  at  the  Hospital,  they  reported,  sustaining  the  charge; 
and  furthermore,  reported  that,  “An  undue  proportion  of  the 
building  is  set  apart  for  the  use  of  officers  and  attendants,”  “  to 
the  serious  detriment  of  the  interests  of  that  unfortunate  class  of 
beings  for  whose  benefit  the  Institution  was  erected  ”  *  *  * 

“  useless  expenditure  in  some  of  the  departments  of  the  Institu¬ 
tion”  *  *  *  “  Unnecessary  number  of  persons  employed  in 

and  about  the  Institution”  *  *  *  “large  families  quarter¬ 

ed  in  the  Institution,”  &c.  Their  informants  “being  among  some 
of  the  first  men  of  Jacksonville.”  These  are  all  literal  quotation* 
from  their  report. 

“  The  reading  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee”  according  to  the 
statement  of  Judge  Thomas,  a  member  of  the  House  in  that  extra 
session,  made  in  the  Morgan  Journal,  July  17th,  1852,  produced 
great  excitement  in  the  House,  various  propositions  were  suggest¬ 
ed,”  &c.,  as  might  well  be  supposed,  if  the  members  believed  the 
official  report  to  be  in  good  faith. 

Meantime,  the  resident  officers  of  the  Institution  were  quietly 
and  successfully  discharging  their  duties  within  its  walls,  and  the 
-acting  Majority  of  the  Board  of  trustees  W'erc  at  their  plows. — 
But  on  learning  that  somebody  was  “ after  these  officers  of  the 
insane  Hospital ,”  they  issued  a  public  protest  to  the  people  of 
the  State,  setting  forth  the  facts  in  refutation  of  these  allegations, 
and  also  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature,  calling  for  an  investiga¬ 
ting  Commission,  and  inviting  to  a  thorough  investigation.  The 
commission  of  Messrs.  Edwards,  Eldridgeand  Green,  was  thereup¬ 
on  created.  After  recapitulating  the  above  charges  they  reported 
to  the  regular  session  of  1858,  (as  previously  quoted)  of  them  and 
of  all  accusations  whatever,  “that  any  act  was  done  by  the  Board 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  was  not  justifiable,  is  not  true.” 
Mr.  Ames,  in  attempting  through  the  press,  to  defend  himself 
against  the  influence  upon  his  private  character  of  the  falsehoods 
fixed  upon  his  report  by  the  facts  made  public  in  the  protest  of  this 
Majority  of  the  Board,  viz :  Messrs.  Holmes,  Morton,  Turner, 
and  Becraft,  and  since  confirmed  by  the  investigating  commission 
and  by  the  subsequent  committee  of  thirteen,  makes  this  disclos- 


REVIEW. 


17 


ure;  (see  Morgan  Journal  August  7th,  1852,  over  the  signature 
of  Mr.  E.  Ames;  )  “In  self  defence,  it  is  due  to  myself  and  the 
balance  of  the  Committee  to  say,  that  three,  of  our  informers 
were  members  of  Mr.  Turner’s  own  Board.” 

The  only  three  members  in  this  board  of  seven,  other  than  the 
four  accused  and  protesting,  were  Warren,  Dixon  and  ITurst. 

Here,  then,  is  proof  incontrovertible,  that  Messrs.  Warren,  Dix¬ 
on  and  Hurst,  among  others,  or,  in  other  words,  the  Dunlap  and 
Warren  party  were  the  authors  of  these  reports  against  the  offi¬ 
cers  of  this  Institution,  which  Mr.  Edwards’  commission  of  three 
and  the  joint  committee  of  thirteen  pronounced  “not  true,”  a* 
shown  in  the  first  chapter.  Here  we  see  these  two  fountains  of 
disappointed  cupidity  and  ambition,  flowing  together  in  this  cor¬ 
rupt  stream. 

Surely,  somebody  was  “after  these  officers  of  the  Insane  Hos¬ 
pital.”  Let  the  proposition  be  borne  in  mind,  that  there  existed 
two  parties  with  regard  to  the  Hospital  interest ;  that  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  and  the  people  wrho  were  satisfied  with  the  facts,  and  the 
Dunlap  and  Warren  party,  who  were  not  Satisfied. 

These  efforts  and  instrumentalities,  so  industriously  and  dexter¬ 
ously  plied  upon  the  Legislature,  were  also  in  every  practicable 
way  moved  throughout  the  State.  Mr.  Edwards,  in  the  course  of 
his  investigations  as  a  Commissioner,  became  acquainted  with  these 
movements  and  also  their  sources,  and  could  therefore,  as  before 
noticed,  assure  the  Superintendent  of  their  formidable  power,  and 
therefore,  as  a  friend,  advise  his  resignation.  Mr.  Edwards,  also, 
from  his  knowledge  of  the  facts,  informed  Esq.,  Keyes,  of  Spring- 
field,  during  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  that  “if  he  would 
agree  to  turn  out  Dr.  Higgins,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  Col. 
Dunlap,  he  could  be  appointed  on  the  new  Board  for  that  Institu¬ 
tion.”  Esq.  Keys  replied,  that  in  that  case  he  should  do  as  he 
pleased;  that  Dr.  Higgins  had  done  well,  and  he  should  retain 
him,  and  could  make  no  such  agreement.  Mr.  Edwards  stated, 
that  he  had  himself  refused  to  serve  on  the  Board  upon  this  con¬ 
dition.  ' 

Mr.  Edwards  has  also  recently  become  responsible  for  the  ad¬ 
ditional  fact,  that  he  has  again  been  solicited  to  fill  one  of  the  va¬ 
cancies  in  the  present  Board,  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  the 
remote  members;  and  that  he  replied  that  he  “could  not,  as  he 
would  be  expected  to  turn  out  Dr.  Higgins,  which  he  could 
not  do  upon  the  fact3  found  and  reported  by  him  as  Commissioner.” 
These  statements  further  show  that  Col.  Dunlap’s  plans  and  efforts 

2 


13 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


were  then  in  progress,  and  were  known  and  recognised  by  Mr. 
Edwards. 

A  month  before  these  events  now  referred  to,  he  had  seriously 
informed  the  Superintendent  and  others  of  Jacksonville,  of  the 
progress  of  this  plan. 

It  is  also  matter  of  such  notoriety  to  the  members  of  both  bran¬ 
ches  of  the  Legislature,  and  others  wrhowere  about  Springfield  last 
winter, as  to  require  but  the  statement,  that  Col.  McClernand,  Dun¬ 
lap’s  son-in-law,  was  actively  engaged  there, in  soliciting  and  elec¬ 
tioneering  upon  the  subject  of  the  appointments'  to  the  new  Board  for 
the  Hospital  for  the  Insane  ;  to  what  end  it  may  bo  left  for  them 
and  the  people  to  judge.  Surely  some  party  was  still  “after  these 
officers  of  the  Insane  Hospital.” 

CHAPTER  III. 

*  *  •  • . '  ,  0  S  '  *  i 

The  people  of  Jacksonville  and  Morgan  county,  who  were  cog¬ 
nisant  of  and  who  had  been  acquainted  with  theso  efforts,  their 
source  and  methods,  from  their  incipiency  ;  fully  acquainted  both 
with  the  chain  of  facts  briefly  sketched  in  the  preceding  chapters r 
and  the  historical  incidents  filling  in  and  connecting  them,  too  vol¬ 
uminous  in  detail  for  the  intended  brevity  of  this  review,  deemed 
it  the  duty  of  a  community,  to  whom  the  State  had  confided  the 
moral  surveillance  of  this  noble  charity,  at  least  to  cast  into  the 
scale  their  mite  of  testimony.  They  had  been;  for  years,  the  wit¬ 
nesses  of  the  incorruptible  integrity,  the  efficiency  and  capability 
of  these  indefatigable  and  faithful  public  servants  in  charge  of 
this  trust,  three  of  whom,  Messrs.  Turner,  Morton  and  Becraft, 
had  served  upon  the  previous  Board. 

They  believed  that  these  men  had  saved  by  their  vigilance,  finan¬ 
cial  skill,  economy  and  honesty,  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  State, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  value  and  credit  to  the  State  of  their  emin¬ 
ent  success  in  the  construction  and  organization  of  this  Institution, 
as  since  confirmed  and  vouched  for  by  the  Reports  of  these  most 
responsible  and  sifting  investigations  already  cited. 

The  people  of  Jacksonville  and  Morgan  County  well  knew  that  the 
determined  intention  oE  a  party  to  revolutionize  that  Institution,  in 
the  face  of  all  the  facts  so  safe  and  creditable  to  the  State,  and 
so  gratifying  to  the  friends  of  the  afflicted,  mu§t  in  its  source  be 
regardless  of:  it3  weal,  and  of  the  legal  safeguards  of  its  interests. 
And  it  was  clear,  that  if  honorable,  high  minded,  just  and  compe¬ 
tent  men,  should  be  driven  out  of  service, in  concession  merely  to  the 
demands  of  such  opponents,  upon  such  pretexts,  and  by  such  pro- 


REVIEW. 


19 


eo&ses  as  those  arrayed  against  this  Institution,  it  must  determine 
and  necessitate  for  years,  the  disconnection  of  our  best  citizens 
from  the  cause  of  our  State  charities ;  for  if  such  men  may  be 
now  thus  utterly  clamored  out,  the  same  efforts  will  succeed 
against  any  future  Board  who  may  become  obnoxious  to  the  hun¬ 
gry  cliques,  which  would  suck  the  life-blood  and  feed  upon  the  car¬ 
cass  of  these  State  Institutions. 

The  action  of  the  present  Executive  was  therefore  awaited  with 
intense  interest.  The  report  of  the  Trustees  to  the  last  Legislature 
was  in  his  hands.  The  highly  authentic,  unquestioned  and  une¬ 
quivocal  report  of  facts  from  Mr.  Edwards’  Commission  was  in 
his  hands,  fully  sanctioning  and  vouching  for  the  integrity,  fidelity 
and  ability  of  the  acting  Board  and  resident  Officers,  for  the  ef¬ 
ficient  and  successful  management  and  Superintendence  of  the 
Hospital.  The  report  of  the  joint  commmittee  of  thirteen  Sena¬ 
tors  and  Members  of  the  House,  was  before  him;  from  which  may 
be  noticed,  additional  to  that  already  quoted  from  these  several 
State  documents,  the  following:  “They,”  (the  committee  of 
thirteen)  “acquiesce  in  the  opinion  expressed  by  all  who  have  visit¬ 
ed  the  Asylum,  as  to  its  perfection  of  plan,  superior  mechanical 
execution,  symmetrical  architecture,  elegance  of  finish,  and  admir¬ 
able  adaptation  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  erected. 

•‘Those  charged  with  carrying  into  effect  this  noble  charity  of 
our  State,  have  wisely  availed  themselves  of  all  the  valuable  im¬ 
provements  suggested  by  experience,  both  with  regard  to  archi¬ 
tectural  design  and  internal  arrangement. 

“The  gratifying  result  is,  they  have  produced  a  work,  which 
when  ultimately  completed,  will  bo  the  admiration  of  all  who  visit 
k,  and  of  which  the  State  may  well  be  proud.  That  a  building  of 
«uch  vast  proportions  should  have  been  erected  in  so  substantial  and 
finished  in  so  superior  manner, f or  the  sum  of  eighty- four  thousand 
dollars,  is  proof  conclusive,  that  no 'wasteful  extravagance  has 
been  indulged  in, but  that  a  proper  economy  has  been  observed  in 
its  construction.” 

And  again,  says  this  Report:  “with  regard  to  the  sanitary  reg¬ 
ulations  adopted  by  the  medical  officers  of  the  Institution,  the 
Committee  would  state,  as  a  conclusion  from  their  observations , 
that  they  believe  them  to  be  such  as  are  sanctioned  by  experience 
in  other  Hospitals.”  (It  should  here  be  remembered  by  the  read  ¬ 
er  that  several  of  this  committee  were  eminent  physicians. )  “Due 
regard  seems  to  bo  paid  to  the  cleanliness  and  comfort  of  the  pa¬ 
tients,  and  the  professional  attainments  of  the  gentlemen  in  charge, 
afford  ample  guaranty,  that  the  unfortunate  inmates  are  properly 


20 


EfSAKfi  HOSPITAL 


treated  with  a  view  to  their  restoration  to  reason,  where  recovery 
is  possible.  This  opinion  is  confirmed  by  an  examination  of  the 
tabular  report  of  cures,  effected  since  the  Hospital  has  been  opened 
for  the  reception  of  patients.  Notwithstanding'  the'  disadvantages 
which  must  naturally  have  resulted  from  an  unfinished  state  of  the 
building,  inexperienced  attendants,  and  impossibility  for  want  of 
room,  for  proper  classification,  it  will  bo  found  by  the  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  Report  of  the  Trustees,  that  the  per  eentage  of  cure* 
has  not  only  been  greater,  but  these  cures  have  been  actually  effect¬ 
ed  at  less  cost  in  the  Illinois  Stafe  Hospital  for.  the  Insane,  than  in 
an  average  of  the  like  Institutions  in  ten  .  other  States,  including 
in  the  enumeration  all  the  great  States  of  the  Union.”  . 

It  might  here  again  be  noticed,  that  for  such  a  gratifying  state 
of  things,  they  do  not, of  course,  recommend  revolution  ;  but  they 
further  say  :  The  good  Opinions,  “they”  [the  officers]  “have  thui 
won,  it  is  nopedjby  an  unremitting  assiduity  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties,  they  will  continue  to  deserve.” 

There  was  also  in  the  hands  of  dhe'Executive,  authorized  by  the 
Board  of  Trustee^,  a’  copy  of  the  records  of  the  Spurious  Board, 
organized  by  Messrs.  Warren  ,  Dickson  and  Hurst;  their  own  histo¬ 
ry  written  on  the  Bbpk  Of  Records,  with  their  owe  hand,  of  an  un¬ 
lawful  attempt  on  their  part,  to  grasp  and  control  the  public  funds. 
There  was  in  bis  hands', also,,  from  the  Hospital  Records,  an  author¬ 
ized  copy  of  the  protest' of  the  majority  against  this  unlawful  at¬ 
tempt,  which  was  successfully  resisted  by  the  Majority  and  the  for¬ 
mer  Executive  of  the  State. 

Such  facts  and  documents  justified  and  required,  as  the  people 
believed,  the  putting' into  his  hands,  also,  through  the  agency '  of 
their  Senator  for  Morgan  and  Scott  counties, 

1st.  Rccommemlations.jnilmerously  signed,  of  thirty  or  forty 
citizens,  “a  Board  constituted  of  any  of  whom,  or.  of  any  men  of 
similar  character,’'  the  .’signers;  would  “insure  to  be  an  efficient  and 
harmonious  Board,  whether  with  or  without  Messrs.  Holmes,  Mor¬ 
ton,  Turner  and  Recruit*  the  Majority  of  the  then  existing  Board.” 

2d.  Also,  a  list  of  ten  or  a  dpzon  persons  against  whom  he  wa$ 
warned,  not  as  unworthy  citizens,  but  as  the  relatives  and  avowed 
and  well-known  adherents  ‘of  the  cause ’of  this  party,  in  their  hos¬ 
tility  to  the  Hospital  administration. 

The  following  fact  needs  no  comment : 

On  the  board  for  the  Insane  Hospital,  at  great  distances  from 
the  Institution,  were  appointed  such  worthy  and  distinguished  citi¬ 
zens  a-s  Dr.  Brainerd,  of  Chicago,  Dr.  Mahon,  of  Wabash  county, 
and  Hon.  T.  R.  Young,  of  Clark  county:  men  in  whose  hand’s 


21 


REVIEW. 


fucIi  a  cause  would  be  most  safely,  entrusted  ;  but,  as  was  predicted 
by  the  friends  of  the  Institution/they  never  came.  One  at  least, 
of  these  nominees,  TIon.  T.  11.  Young,  it  was  well  known  before 
hi#  nomination,  would  not  serve,  as  he,  in’preserice  of  James  C. 
Robinson,  of  Clark  County,  gave  to  John  A.  McClernand,  Dun¬ 
lap's  son-in-law  and  solicitor,  tjie  most  positive  and  final  assur¬ 
ance  “that  he  could  not  possibly,  and  certainly  would  not  serve  if 
appointed — that  when  McClernand  insisted  that  he  should  accept, 
Mr.  Young  persisted  to  the  last  that  lie  could  not.” 

On  the  other  hand, two  of  the  newly  appointed  Trustees  residing 
ui  Morgan  County,  viz :  Stevenson  and  Henry,  are  relatives  of 
the  disaffected,  party,  and  the  only,  appointee  living  in  Jack¬ 
sonville,  the  seat  of  the  Institution,  is  Theming  Stevenson,  a  citi¬ 
zen  who  had  freely  and  publicly  'expressed  his  hostility  to  the  Su¬ 
perintendent  of  the  Hospital, ’who  is' brother-in-law  to  James  Dun¬ 
lap,  and  accordingly  was  one  of  the  list  above  named,  against 
whom  the  Governor  was  cautioned.  Hejfa  a  prominent  member 
— President  of  the  Board. 

Again,  Wm.  Butler  of  Spring  Sold,  an  active  member  of  the 
Board,  the  mover  of  the  first,  . second  and  third  series  of  the  revo¬ 
lutionizing  Resolutions,  has  for  years  peep  publicly  known  as  the 
negotiator  and  agent  of  James  Dunlap  in  his  schemes  of  politi¬ 
cal  speculation  ;  as  for  instance  in  'the  .purchase  of  the  Stebbins 
bonds,  an  essential  branch  of  the’  Shawneetown  Bank  maneuver, 
through  which  single  operation  the  State  was  'despoiled  of  tens  of 
thousands  of  dollars. 

Messrs.  Holmes,  Morton,  Turner  and  Becraft,  the  Majority  of 
the  old  Board,  and  the  thirty  or  forty  other  names  recommended, 
were  not  appointed  up, on  the  Hospital  Board;  or,  with  an  exception 
or  two,  upon  any  Board;  .while  on  the  Board  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb  were  appointed,  Messrs.  Dunlap,  hucCIernand  his  soii-in - 
law,  Warren  and  Dixson  of  the  Minority  of  the  old  Board  ;  and 
having  secured  the  removal  of  John  T.  Jones,  the,  competent  anu 
faithful  Steward,  without  pretence  of  cause,  they  appointed  in  his 
stead,  at  their  first  meeting,  W.  S.  Hurst  of  the  old  Insane  Minor¬ 
ity,  with  one  hundred  dollars  added  to  the  salary  of  the  office. — 
Truly  some  party  must  have  been  ‘  ‘.after  these  officers  of  the  In¬ 
sane  Hospital.” 

In  view  of  the  public  boasts  and  declarations, which  several  indi¬ 
viduals  of  this  party  indulged  immediately  after  the  adjournment 
of  the  last  Legislature — even  Dunlap  and  Warren  themselves,  as, 
that  “They  had  Higgins  now” — Warren  offering  to  bet  large 
<o. mounts,  that  “he  would  be  ejected  in  sixty  days,”  in  connection 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


w 

with  the  facts  of  the  appointments,  &c.,  detailed  above — and  es¬ 
pecially,  when  in  a  little  less  than  ‘‘sixty  days,”  this  new  Board 
met,  and  at  their  first  session,  and  in  a  series  of  resolutions,  four 
members  Messrs.  Stevenson,  Butler, Henry  and  Pyatt,  of  a  Board 
of  nine,  committed  themselves  singly  and  finally,  to  the  ends  of 
disorganization  and  revolution  ;  in  doing  which  it  was  obvious 
to  every  citizen,  they  must  disregard  and  violate  all  the  facts ,  au¬ 
thorities ,  and  laws  of  the  State  on  this  subject;  various  citizens 
of  Morgan  County  felt  compelled,  by  every  moral  and  patriotic 
obligation,  to  awake  the  public  attention  through  the  press  to  these 
startling  facts. 

This  was  done  through  the  Morgan  Journal,  whoso  columns 
were  generously  and  gratuitously  proffered  to  the  use  of  all  par¬ 
ties  that  might  exist.  This  investigation  had  not  proceeded  far, 
when  Col.  James  Dunlap  demanded  the  name  of  the  author  of  a 
communication  signed, #“01d  Morgan,  Still.”  This  was  given; 
but  the  facts  of  the  communication  and  the  character  of  the  author, 
Mr.  Aquila  Becraft,  he  dared  not  call  to  either  a  legal  or  personal 
account.  He  then  demanded  to  inspect  the  manuscript, which  de¬ 
mand  the  Editor  declined.  Two  days  afterwards,  when  this  Editor, 
.Paul  Selby,*  Esq.,  was  sitting  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Catlin, 
Railroad  Agent,  in  his  office  at  the  Depot,  no  one  else  being  in 
the  room,  Col.  James  Dunlap,  his  son-in-law,  Col.  John  A.  McCIer- 
nand,  and  Archimedes  C.  Dixon,  attended  by  several  others  of 
their  friends,  entered  armed  with  deadly  weapons,  and  the  valiant 
Col.  Dunlap,  thus  shielded  from  harm’s  reach,  himseif  officiated  in 
attempting  to  strike  down  the  unarmed  and  undefended  Editor. 
Whether  Col.  Dunlap  and  his  party,  intended  in  this  way  to  deter 
the  Editor  and  the  community  from  publishing,  and  to  make  an 
argument  in  self  defence  against  facts  wffiich  they  could  not  contro¬ 
vert,  and  whose  antffors  they  dared  not  call  to  account,  either  to 
their  bludgeons  or  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  the  people  are  invited 
to  judge. 

This  investigation  has  been  chiefly  prosecuted  in  the  columns  of 
uio  “Morgan  Journal,”  for  this  reason:  The  Editor  of  the  “Con - 
stitutionist,”  the  only  other  press  in  Morgan  County,  at  the*  first  f 
refused  this  investigation  admittance  to  his  columns  on  any  con¬ 
dition  whatever.  But  on  the  first  June,  1853,  when  Messrs.  Dun¬ 
lap  and  Warren  sought  through  the  press,  the  redress  of  a  cause 
which  had  suffered  dangerously  under  the  cudgel  argument,  this 
Editor  published  their  article;  and  at  the  same  time  the  proposition 
to  the  public,  that  for  publishing  on  the  Hospital  subject,  he  shouH 
require  “pay  in  advance  at  advertising  rates.”  Butinhknuia- 


REVIEW. 


23 


her  of  July  6,  lie  gives  his  readers  his  own  reasons  for  this  singu¬ 
lar  favoritism  in  regard  to  a  great  public  interest,  as  follows  : 

“True,  had  we  consulted  only  with  our  personal  feelings,  we 
should  have  sought  the  vindication  of  the  assailed  parties,  Messrs. 
Warren ,  Dunlap,  Dixon,  Hurst  and  others,  as  they  all  have 
been  and  are  now ,  our  oldest  and  warmest  personal  friends 
in  this  place,  and  the  disinterestedness  of  whom  has  been  evinced 
in  many  ways  before  and  since  wTe  became  a  citizen  here;  among 
the  assailing  party  we  have  not  even  a  subscriber  to  our  knowl¬ 
edge.” 

Now,  to  briefly  recapitulate — what  are  the  facts  of  the  condition 
of  the  Insane  Hospital,  and  of  its  directing  and  medical  officers, 
as  vouched  for  by  all  State  authorities  and  State  documents?  Let 
the  tax-paying,  philanthropic  people  of  Illinois  attend  to 
the  law  of  the  State,  fixing  the  term  of  the  Medical  Super¬ 
intendent  for  ten  years,  “subject  to  removal  only  for  infidelity  to 
the  trust  reposed  in  him,  or  incompetency  to  the  discharge  thereof,57 
a  provision  enacted  at  the  suggestion  of  the  philanthropist,  Miss. 
Dix,  because  political  revolution,  is  fatal  to  the  welfare  of  the  suf¬ 
fering,  dependent,  and  helpless  inmates  of  such  Institutions. 

Let  the  people  attend  to  the  testimony  of  the  Report  of  the 
former  Board.  Let  them  attend  to  the  unquestionable  testimony 
of  the  Report  of  Mr.  Edwards7  Commission,  and  of  the  Report  of 
the  joint  committee. of  thirteen  members  of  both  Houses,  all  three 
of  which  Reports  were  made  to  the  last  Legislature  not  more  than 
six  months  ago.  Let  the  people  attend  to  the  refusal  of  thatLeg- 
islature,  in  view  of  this  mass  of  facts,  to  impower  any  Board  that, 
might  be  gotten  up,  to  turn  out  the  officers  of  this  Institution  at, 
will.  And  let  the  people  also  come  and  see  the  facts  with  their 
own  eyes. 

Then,  on  the  other  hand,  let  the  people  mark  well  the  fact,  of 
three  men  out  of  a  Board  of  seven ,  filling  the  vacancies  of  their 
Board  before  they  were  organized,  then,  organizing  and 
electing  two  of  their  number  into  the  only  three  vacant  offices 
of  trust  in  the  Institution — and  at  this  day , the  insignia,  intrigue 
and  lawlessness,  written  upon  their  effort  and  stamped  with  the 
great  seal  of  the  State — the  confessed  fact  of  the  instigations  of 
‘•fraternal77  and  other  “affections,”  to  the  “desires  and  best  en¬ 
deavors”  “to  forward  the  interest”  of  kinsman  and  favorites  by 
electing  them  “to  honorable  and  lucrative  positions  within  the  In¬ 
stitution77 — the  fact,  upon  failure  to  accomplish  this,  of  public 
threats  of  a  “clean  sweep77  of  its  officers — the  fact  of  a  com¬ 
mittee  headed  by  Mr.  Ames  of  Putnam  county,  and  its  Report  of 


24 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


disgraceful  falsehoods  to  the  Extra  Session  of  1852,  based  upon 
the  information  of  Warren,  Dixon  and  Hurst — the  fact  of  agita¬ 
tion  among  the  people  and  in  the  Legislature,  and  expense  to  the 
State  of  needless  investigation  into  the  grounds  of  these  false 
charges — the  fact  of  a  flood  of  electioneering  in  Springfield  by  Mc- 
Ciernand  and  others  acting  in  behalf  of  Dunlap,  to  affect  the  com¬ 
plexion  of  the  new  Board — the  fact  of  a  press  confessedly  muzzled 
on  the  Hospital  subject, by  the  “oldest  and  warmest  personal  friend¬ 
ships”  between  the  Editor  and  the  members  of  this  party — the 
fact,  of  personal  violence  upon  the  Editor  of  the  Journal,  because 
it  was  not  muzzled — and  lastly,  the  fact,  ever  recurring  upon  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  Morgan  'county,  upon  the  Hospital  Re¬ 
cords,  upon  the  Journals  of  the  Legislature,  upon  tho  archives  of 
the  government,  upon  the  purse  of  the  State,  upon  a  dumb  press, 
upon  the  head  of  an  independent  Editor — and  finally,  upon  the 
heart  of  this  noble,  cherished  and  beloved  Institution,  thus  crippled 
and  disorganized  by  lawless  hands — of  the  names  of  Dunlap, 
Warren,  Dixon,  Hurst,  McCIernand,  and  McClernand,  Hurst, 
Dixon,  Warren  and  Dunlap,  signed  and  witnessed  with  their  own 
hand  and  seal. 

And  now,  upon  the  data  of  these  facts  and  authorities,  presented 
in  this  review,  let  the  people  of  Illinois  judge  : 

1st.  Whether  there  exist  two  parties  in  the  State  with  reference 
to  this  Hospital  interest;  the  one,  a  party  of  the  Government  and  the 
people,  who  are  satisfied  with  the  facts  of  its  construction,  manage¬ 
ment  and  Superintendence,  and  the  efficiency  and  fidelity  of  its  ad¬ 
ministering  officers;  the  other,  a  Dunlap  and  Warren  party , who  are 
dissatisfied  and  opposed  from  selfish  and  interested  motives. 

2d.  Whether  the  facts  and  footprints  now  uncovered,  afford 
prima  facie,  evidence  of  persistent  and  effective  activity  of  these 
opposing  elements  in  the  formation  of  the  present  Board.  And 
then, 

3d.  What  the  present  Board  of  Trustees  have  done,  and  what 
they  are  doing,  and  to  which  of  the  above  parties  their  acts  ally 
them  for  their  paternity  and  aims  and  ends,  shall  simply  be  offer¬ 
ed  (in  the  V  and  VI  chapters)  to  the  people  of  the  State,  in  their 
own  language,  over  their  own  signature  and  seal.  And  having 
read,  the  people  of  the  State  are  invited  to  notice,  that  the  above- 
cited  and  quoted  laws,  reports  and  other  documents,  together  with 
the  resolutions,  protests,  &c.,  produced  by  the  present  Board,  are 
self-evidently  not  the  opinions  or  assertions  or  arguments  of  the 
writer  of  this  review,  or  of  a  clique  or  party  in  or  out  of  Morgan 
oounty,  and  therefore  need  not  the  signet  of  any  such  authentica- 


REVIEW. 


25 


tion.  They  arc  the  highest  State  authorities  and  State  documents 
of  the  Government,  unequivocal,  impartial,  unquestionable  and 
unquestioned  in  their  import  and  conclusions  upon  all  these  issues. 

And  then,  in  conclusion,  the  people  of  the  State  are  invited  to 
judge  upon  such  grounds,  whether  the  people  of  Jacksonville  and 
Morgan  county,  have  acted  selfishly,  immodestly  or  tyrannically  ; 
when,  as  the  eye-witnesses -of  all  these  facts,  even  to  the  last,  the 
contact  of  unhallowed  and  lawless  hands-,  as  the  sequel  will  show, 
with  the  vitals  of  this  sacred  trust,  confided  by  their  generous  fel¬ 
low  citizens  of  the  State. to  their  social  and  moral  fosterage  and 
supervision,  they  attempted  to  throw  themselves  into  the  breach 
until  facts,  and  the’ voice  of  their  honest  and  earnest  warning^ 
should  invoke  to  the  rescue  the  power  whose  laws'  and  interests 
have  been  thus  infracted,  ,  * 

But,  ask  the  people,  what  will,  and  what  can  these  Trustees  next 
Jo  ?  They  will,  if  permitted,  yet  drive  the  deadly  plowshare  of 
political  ambition  and  sordid  interest,  through  the  heart  of  this  no¬ 
ble  charity,  by  holding  it  in  its  present  disorganization  and  anarchy, 
until  they  have  thus  produced ■  the  material  with  which  to  accuse  its 
officers,  and  upon  which  to  baSe  the  ultimate  success  of  a  now  baf¬ 
fled  undertaking,  so  far  based  on  no  pretence' of  accusation  or  tri¬ 
al,  because  of  the  lack  of  material  for  it,  and  the  right,  justice, 
and  legality  of  which  course  of  procedure’  they  dare  not,  as  now 
publicly  challenged  to  do,  bring  before  the  judicial  tribunals  of  the 
State. 

Let  all  law  loving  and  humane  voters  and  tax- payers,  give  heed  to 
their  voting. 

ir;  '  .  '  ■  >  '  ‘  *  1  1  :j  A  '  [  '  \  V  "  "  V>  .  ■’  .  ,  *  ,  * 

CHAPTER  IV.  ■ 

•  '  * .  *  •  •  J  »■  ,  /  » 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  only  party  in  the  State  de¬ 
sirous  of,  and  fully  committed  to  revolution  in  the  Institution,  in 
defiance  of  the  law,  the  justice  and  the  facts,  is  the  Dunlap  and 
Warren  party.  Arid  it  is  pertinent  next  to  inquire,  what  this  par¬ 
ty  would  desire  the  existing  Board  to  do,  undei  the  circumstances  : 
and  to  inquire  further,  whether  the,  history  of  the  proceedings  of 
this  Board,  as  shown  from  their  own  records,  prove  them  to  be  sub¬ 
servient  to  this  party.  ’  ,  . 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  previous' chapters  that  a  revolution  of  the 
officers  of  this  institution  had  been  sought  by  all  the  power  of  po¬ 
litical  maneuvering,  aided  by  the  promulgation  of  false  charges 
by  the  Minority  of  the  old  Board,  and  through  Ames’  Legislative 
Report. 


2f) 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


4 


Then  how  could  the  desired  revolution  he  effected?  It  would 
not  do  to  try  the  Superintendent  on  charges  of  “in competency” 
or  “infidelity,’*  with  the  above  named  facts  and  documentary  evi¬ 
dences  against  their  course,  and  in  his  favor.  They  must,  therefore, 
as  from  the  history  of  their  proceedings  appears  they  did,  attempt 
to  drive  him  out  by  crippling  and  destroying  his  authority  and  pow¬ 
er — directly  by  overt  violation  of  the  Statute, and  indirectly, by  af¬ 
fecting  the  officers  and  attendants  lawfully  under  his  sole  control  ; 
and  augmenting  and  extending,  in  ail  possible  ways, right  or  wrong, 
the  power  of  the  present  Steward,  John  Henry,  who,  in  ser¬ 
vice  to  this  faction,  had  for  eighteen  months  been  hostile  to  the 
Superintendent  and  Matron  of  the  Institution*  and  who  was  the 
only  restive  and  incompatible  clement  in  its  entire  organization. 

This  is  precisely  what  the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party  would  have 
done,  and  the  only  thing  they  could  have  done,  had  they  trans¬ 
acted  the  business  in  person,  and  precisely  what  the  present  Board 
has  attempted  to  do,  as  their  own  record  plainly  shows* 

They  at  once,  before  they  had  been  organized  twelve  hours,  or 
entered  into  any  examination  of  facts,  or  made  any  efforts  to  die- 
approve  the  statements  and  testimony  of  former  Boards,  the  Leg¬ 
islative  Commission  of  three,  and  the  joint  Committee  of  thirteen, 
declared  Dr.  Higgins  unfit  for  his  office,  without  cause  and  even 
without  charge  or  pretence  of  trial.  This  they  did  in  direct  defi¬ 
ance  of  the  organic  law  of  the  Institution,  which  Mr.  Craven 
caused  to  he  read  in  their  hearing — a  law  proposed  by  the  philan¬ 
thropist,  Miss.  Dix,  and  adopted  by  the  unanimous  authority  of 
the  State,  to  meet  precisely  such  an  exigency  as  the  present — to 
which  law  the  Majority  of  the  Board  paid  no  regard  whatever.  And 
why  should  they?  It  was  a  matter  with  which  they*  had  nothing  to  do. 
On  the  ground  they  assumed  to  act  upon, as  their  recorded  acts  show. 
Dr.  Higgins  and  the  Mattron  under  him,  were  to  go  out  any  how, 
qualified  or  not  qualified — law  or  no  law. 

His  position  and  qualifications  and  successes  were  not  consistent 
with  the  interests  of  the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party,  some  of  whose 
members  it  was  desirable  “to  promote  to  honorable  and  lucrative 
positions”  within  the  Institution;  and  that  of  itself  seemed  rea¬ 
son  enough  and  law  enough  for  his  removal— at  least  they  have 
utterly  failed  to  show  any  other  reason;  or  even  to  appeal  to  any 
other. 

But  how  was  it  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  Steward,  the  only  of¬ 
ficer  of  the  Institution  avowedly  hostile  to  the  Superintendent  and 
Matron,  and  publicly  known  to  be  subservient  to  the  Dunlap  and 
Warren  party? 


REVIEW. 


Grave  and  serious  charges  of  incompetency  and  inefficiency  were 
preferred  against  him  by  the  proper  legal  authority,  as  early  aS 
the  6th  of  June  last.  Some  of  these  charges,  and  the  facts  on 
which  they  are  based,  had  long  before  challenged  the  attention  of 
the  community,  and  excited  much  public  remark  and  serious  inter¬ 
est  in  behalf  of  the  Institution;  but  these  facts  and,  charges  were 
placed  on  file  by  this  Board  without  even  a  passing  reading,  or  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  of  inquiry.  The  Superintendent  and 
Matron  were  at  once  voted  out  of  their  office,  contrary  to  the  ex¬ 
plicit  provisions  of  the  charter  of  the  Institution,  and  in  spite  of 
all  the  facts  and  authorities — and  the  Steward  not  only  sustained, 
but  the  new  office  of  House  Keeper,  created  directly  in  violation 
of  law.  To  this  new  and  illegal  office  his  wife  was  appointed  with 
a  salary  of  §200  a  year,  and  a  control  of  domestics,  and  others 
entirely  contrary  to  law,  which  provides  that  u the  Superintendent 
shall  appoint  and  exercise  'entire  control  over  all  subordinate  offi¬ 
cers  and  assistant  in  the  Institution,  and  shall  have  entire  direction 
of  the  duties  of  the  same.57 

The  following  extracts  from  the  published  official  replies  of  the 
Superintendent  and  Matron,  afford  the  best  comment  upon  thqse 
proceedings  manifesting  the  unlawful  and  revolutionary  ends  and 
aims  of  this  Board.  On  the  28d  of  June,  a  few  days  after  the 
passage  of  the  resolution  of  expulsion,  Dr.  Higgins,  in  an  offi¬ 
cial  communication  to  the  Board  through  their  President,  concern¬ 
ing  these  resolutions,  writes  thus ; 

‘•'Prompted  by  strong1  regard  for  the  best  interests  and  prosperity  of  the  Institu¬ 
tion,  as  well  as  by  a  sense  of  the  duly  I  owe  to  myself  in  this  strange  emergency* 
—on  their  professional  responsibilties  and  obligations  as  good  citizens,  I  have 
appealed  to  counsel  of  as  eminent  ability  as  any  in  tlie  State  for  advice  as  to  my 
legal  rights,  and  as  to  the  course  I  ought  to  pursue  in  the  premises.  They  advise 
me  that  .the  proceedings  of  the  Board  are  destitute  of  all  the  forms  and  sanctions 
of  the  law,  and  as  such,  utterly  void.  *  *  *  *  *  *•  * 

I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  the  following  as  rnv  line  of  duty  :  That  quietly 
and  uncomplainingly  I  ought  not  to  submit  as  the  victim  of  such  lawless  and  unjust 
proceedings — the  more  especially,  as  they  may  be  plead  as  a  precedent  in  the  fu¬ 
ture  administration  of  the  affairs  of -the  Hospital.  That,,  notwithstanding  these 
proceedings,  I  shall  retain  my  office  and  dischargeils  duties  to  the  utmost  of  mv 
ability,  until  I  am  ousted  from  it  by  due  process  of  law — or  until  it  expires — or 
Until  I  resign  it.” 

The  Matron  replied  as  follows,  through  the  President  of  the 
Board : 

“Sir:  I  do  not  recognize  your  authority,  nor  the  authority  of  your  Board. 
to  pass  such  a  resolution  as  the  one  received  from  you  this  afternoon.  For  I 
did  not  receive  my  office  from  you,  r.or  any  other  Board  of  Trustees  ;  nor  can  I 
lawfully  surrender  it  at  your  dictation;  and,  therefore,  I  herewith  return  the 
document  to  its  authors. 

“  I  would  further  add,  that  I  hold  myself  personally  ready  and  wiling,  at  any 


INSANE!  HOSPITAL 


moment,  to  resign  my  office  into  the  hands  of  a  Superintendent  of  the  Institution, 
from  whom  1  lawfully  received  it,  whenever  in  his  judgment  the  best  interests  of 
the  Institution  can  be  promoted  thereby.  Until  then,  or  while  I  deem  it  inv 
duty  to  hold  iny  office,  I  must  endeavor  quietly  and  conscientiously  to  discharge 
my  responsible  and  often  trying  duties,”  &c. 

The  Board  then  appointed  two  of5  their  number  a  committee  t# 
find  a  Superintendent  in  Dr.  Higgins’  place,  with  power  to  proffer 
him  an  unlimited  salary,  and  to  draw  on  the  Treasury  of;  the  Insti¬ 
tution  for  $500  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Committee  in  ad¬ 
dition  to  the  regular  payments,  allowed  them  as  Trustees  by  the 
lawr  of  the  State. 

Meantime,  Dr.  Higgins,  according  to  bis  purpose  expressed  te 
the  Board — and  in  obedience  to  strong  and  earnest  public  solicita¬ 
tion,  continued  to  remain  at  his  post  and  claim  the  rights  of  his 
office  ;  and  at  their  meeting  of  July  20th,  almost  two  months  after 
their  attempt  at  the  expulsion  of  Dr.  Higgins,  the  Board  took 
special  notice  of  the  fact  of  his  remaining  in  the  office,  and  declared 
that  “  Dr.  Higgins  still  continues  in  and  about  the  Institution  to 
the  subversion  of  the  proper  order  and  discipline  of  the  same 
— subsisting  himself  and  family  upon  funds  set  apart  for  the  un¬ 
fortunate  thereof” — and  accordingly  order,  “  that  he  be  notified 
to  remove  himself,  his  family  and  effects  from  the  Institution  be¬ 
fore  the  first  day  of  August  next.” 

They  commanded  all  the  domestics  and  subordinates  of  the'  In¬ 
stitution  to  pay  no  regard  to  bis  orders,  and  instructed  tbe  Steward 
and  Treasurer  that  no  money  should  be  paid  either  to  him  or  to 
anv  one  who  recognized  his  authority. 

In  his  official  reply  to  their  threats  and  stratagems,  Dr.  Higgins 
addressed  this  language  to  the  Board : 

#  *  «  ‘‘ You  have  declared  my  office  vacant,  contrary  to  law ;  you  have 

declared  the  Matron’s  office  vacant,  contrary  to  law;  you  have  appointed  a  House¬ 
keeper,  contrary  to  lav  ;  a  Carpenter,  contrary  to  law;  removed,  virtually,  ever v 
attendant  in  the  establishment,  contrary  to  law;  *  *  *  withheld  moneys 

rightfully  due  me  for  months, contrary  to  law — thus  necessitating  me  to  sue  for 
their  recovery  ;  *  *  *  and  now  you  order  the  Superintendent  to  leave  the 

Institution,  contrary  to  law 

*  *  *  “  Regarding  myself  Hie  lawful  Superintendent  of  the  establishment. 

1  can  bnt  continue  to  remain  with  my  family  in  the  Institution,  as  the  law-  di¬ 
rects,  and  to  perform  the  duties  of  my  office  to  the  best  of  my  ability  under  the 
circumstances,  until  ousted  by  due  process  of  law,  or  until  it  expires,  or  until  I  resign 
it” 

The  memorable  first  day  of  din  gust  cam0,  and  with  it  a 
meeting  of  the  Board.  They  had  at  their  previous  meeting,  pub¬ 
licly  pledged  themselves  that  something  should  be  done  to  relieve 
the  Institution  from  the  presence  of  Dr.  Higgins.  This  day  had 
also  been  set  apart  for  the  trial  of  John  Henry,  the  Steward,  for 
grave  charges  preferred  against  him  several  meetings  previous  to 


REVIEW. 


29 


this.  Theso  urgent  and  pressing  duties  were  well  understood  by 
all  the  members  of:  the  Board,  and  by  the  public  at  large,  to  be 
the  declared  and  special  business  of  this  meeting. 

According  to  their  claims,  Dr.  Higgins — an  officer  declared  by 
them,  some  months  since,  unfit  for  his  office,  and  by  their  action 
stripped  of  his  reputation,  his  office,  his  salary,  his  authority, 
and  even  of  his  just  and  legal  dues' ;  repeatedly  ordered  by  their 
Board  to  leave  the  premises  of  the  Institution — this  man  and  his 
family,  together  with  the  Matron,  Mrs.  Crocker,  were  still  on  the 
ground,  claiming  their  salaries,  and  actually  filling  their  offices, 
and  subsisting  for  months  past  upon  the  funds  of  the  State,  openly 
defying  the  authority  of  the  Board,  as  they  say,  to  the  “subver¬ 
sion  of  the  proper  order  and  discipline  of  the  Institution.” 

The  Board  came  upon  the  first  day  of  August  to  which  they  had 
adjourned,  to  bring  about  the  ultimatum  of  Dr.  Higgins’  presence 
in  the  Hospital,  and  to  investigate  the  charges  against  the  Steward; 
and  having  settled  a  small  account  with  the  former  Treasurer,  ad- 
journed,  for  leant  of  “business,”  to  the' second  Monday  of  Sep¬ 
tember — leaving  the  Institution,  for  six  weeks  more,  in  the  same 
state  of  confusion,  anarchy  and  disorder,  into  which  their  first 
action  had  thrown  it — Dr.  Higgins  and  Mrs.  Crocker  still  occupy¬ 
ing  their  offices,  and  defying  the  authority  of  the  Board,  as  having 
been  lawlessly  and  tyrannically  exercised — and  John  Henry  still 
untried  upon  the  charges  long  since  preferred  against  him  ! 

This  Board  is  underlay,  as  no  other  board  of  the  Institution 
ha$  ever  been  ;  a  single  member  of  which,  has  received  fifty  dollars 
for  each  of  his  visits  to' the  Hospital  !  *  In  addition  to  this,  they 
have  really  voted  themselves  five  hundred  dollars ,  for  the  extra 
trouble  of  negotiating  for  a  “better  man”  for  Superintendent, 
though  they  aro  entirely  relieved  of  the  onerous  and  perplexing 
duties  and  cares,  incident  to  the  planning,  supervision,  and  con¬ 
struction  of  the  buildings,  gratuitously  borne  by  previous  Boards. 

They  have  met  and  adjourned,  met  and  adjourned,  month  after 
month,  and  defrayed  their  expenses  out  of  the  fund  set  apart  for 
the  unfortunate,  and  have  done  nothing  but  add  folly  to  folly, 
and  at  last  have  adjourned,  leaving  the  Institution,  according  to 
their  own  published  records,  in  the  anarchy  and  confusion  to  which 
their  first  action  had  reduced  it — with  two  Superintendents,  and  no 
Superintendent  at  all;  with  two  Matrons  and  a  Housekeeper, and  no 
Matron  or  Housekeeper  at  all ;  with  one  disaffected  Steward,  seek¬ 
ing,  in  subserviency  to  the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party,  to  manu- 

*  A  meeting;  of  a  fall  Board,  for  one  day,  as  at  present  constituted,  costs  the 
State  eighty  dollars. 


so 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


faeture  material  of  accidents  and  failures  in  the  Institution,  upon 
which  to  justify  the  action  of  the  Board  against  the  Superintend¬ 
ent  and  Matron  ;  with  every  subordinate  and  attendant  in  the 
establishment  explicitly  “ordered’7  by  the  Board,  to  disregard  and 
disobey  the  only  officer  in  the  Institution,  recognized  as  its  head, 
under  the  laws  of  the  State. 

These  acts  of  revoliffiion  are  either  right  or  wrong — legal  or 
illegal.  If  right  and  legal,  why  leave  the  Institution,  meeting 
after  meeting,  and  month  after  month,  with  a  man  in  it  unlawfully 
claiming  to  be  Superintendent,  and  defying  and  openly  insulting 
their  authority,  even  through  the  press; — “subverting,”  as  they 
§ay,  “the  proper  order  and  discipline  of  the  Institution,  and  sub¬ 
sisting  with  his  family  upon  the  funds  set  apart  for  the  unfortu¬ 
nate,”— which  funds  have  been  put,  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  un¬ 
der  the  charge  of  the  Trustees,  as  a  sacred  trust  for  economical 
expenditure  ? 

Has  the  State  no  laws,  no  courts  of  justice,  no  civil  and  effective 
procedures,  through  the  instrumentality  of  which,  a  majority  of 
seven  highly  competent  Trustees,  in  a  Board  of  nine,  clothed  with 
the  authority  of  the  laws,  at  d  defended  by  the  resources  of  the 
whole  State,  can  maintain  their  rights,  and  dignities,  and  silence 
and  banish  from  the  Institution  a  Superintendent  whom  it  required 
no  investigation  to  pronounce  “incompetent?”  Are  these  seven 
men  to  be  defied  and  baffled,  and  sent  home  without  any  business, 
by  this  “incompetent”  Superintendent,  and  to  bo  treated  with 
equal  defiance  and  disregard  by  the  Matron  of  the  Institution  ? 

An  indignant  public  are  asking  in  louder  and  louder  tones,  Why, 
and  again,  why,  do  this  Board  suffer  this  mournful  and  ruinous 
state  of  things  in  this  Institution  to  remain  unremedied?  There 
can  be  but  one  answer :  Their  official  course  has  not  been  based 
upon  and  in  good  faith  to  the  laws,  the  principles,  the  authorities 
and  the  facts  of  the  party  of  the  Government  and  the  people,  who 
are  satisfied  with  the  facts  as  shown  in  the  former  chapters  ;  but 
on  tho  other  hand,  in  accordance  with  the  will  and  determination 
of  the  only  other  party  in  this  matter,  known  to  the  people  of  the 
whole  State — the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party.  This  party,  it  bus 
been  shown  from  their  own  confessions  and  other  facts,  were  dis¬ 
satisfied  from  interested  motives.  They  have  attempted  a  revolu¬ 
tion  in  the  face  of  facts  and  laws,  and  consequently,  their  whole 
process  of  anarchy  and  revolution  has  been  in  such  utter  violation 
of  the  facts,  and  all  the  form3  and  sanctions  of  law  and  justice, 
that  they  and  their  legal  advisers  well  know  they  cannot  find 
a  court  of  justice,  a  judge,  a  jury,  a  lawyer,  not  even  a  man  out- 


REVIEW. 


SI 


*ide  of  the  personal  friends  of  this  disaffected  party,  to  sustain 
them  in  their  acts. 

Hence, they  have  procrastinated  the  execution  of  their  “Orders” 
and  “Resolutions”  from  month  to  month,  to  the  daily  detriment 
and  to  the  ultimate  ruin  of  this  Institution,  if  continued  ;  in  order 
to  gain  time  and  devise  expedients  for  bolstering  up  the  ignoble 
and  unsustainable  stand  thev  have  taken,  rather  than  meet  an 
early  doom  before  the  tribunals  of  justice. 

Revolution ,  regardless  of  the  laws,  the  facts,,  and  the  interest* 
of  the  Institution,  was  the  end  and  aim  of  the  Dunlap  and  Warren 
party.  It  has  been  sufficient^  shown,  that  there  was  no  other 
revolutionary  purpose  or  interest  in  the  State.  It  is  plain  that  tho 
administration  of  the  present  Board  represents  only  the  will  and 
interests  of  this  revolutionary  party . 

The  charter  interdicted  needless  revolution,  by  requiring  the  Su¬ 
perintendent  to  be  appointed  for  ten  years,  removable  only  for 
•‘incompetency,”  or  “infidelity”  to  his  trust'.  Why,  then,  was 
this  charter  violated,  unless  because  the  will  of  the  Dunlap  and 
Warren  party  was  the  law  of  action  for  this  Board  ?  Why  did  they 
not  arraign  the  Superintendent  before  some  legal  tribunal,  having 
jurisdiction  of  the  case,  upon  charges  of  “incompetency”  or  “in¬ 
fidelity”  to  his  trust  ?  There  is  but  one  answer  :  Because  the  in¬ 
flexible  testimony  and  facts,  as  found  and  reported  by  the  preced¬ 
ing  Board,  and  by  Legislative  Committees,  triumphantly  sustain 
r.he  administration  of  the  Superintendent,  rendering  his  removal 
upon  the  legal  conditions  and  processes  impossible.  They  there¬ 
fore  shunned  the  only  legal  conditions  and  processes,  and  violated 
the  law  ;  disregarded  the  facts  vouched  for  by  the  highest  Legisla¬ 
tive  authority  of  the  State — by  committees  specially  appointed  for 
this  investigation,  by  the  facts  and  testimony  of  the  party  of  the 
Hovcrmnent  and  the  people.  They  neither  sought  nor  claimed 
any  counter  facts  or  testimony,  upon  which  to  base  the  legality  and 
justice  of  their  course,  but  relied  alone  upon  their  “reflections.” 
They  reflected  the  Superintendent  out  of  office,  without  trial 
and  without  law,  in  obedience  to  the  only  revolutionary  party  in 
the  State — the  Dunlap  and  Warren  party. 

There  can  be  no  other  reason,  than  subserviency  to  this  party, 
why  the  Matron,  an  officer  according  to  the  Statute  and  By-Laws, 
to  be  appointed,  controlled  and  dismissed  by  the  Superintendent, 
was  declared  by  this  Board  removed  from  office,  in  such  plain  vio¬ 
lation  of  law.  Having  been  proscribed  by  this  party,  she  must 
go  out,  law  or  no  law,  whether  qualified  or  not,  whether  the  inter - 
wte  of  the  afflicted  are  regarded  or  disregarded. 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


p,0 

\J  4J 

If  these,  and  a  series  of  kindred  enactments  of  this  Board, 
plainly  proving  them  to  be  instruments  of  the  Dunlap  and  Warren 
party,  true  to  its  old  instincts  of  political  combination,  and  eva¬ 
sions  and  violations  of  lawT,  and  by  which  enactments  the  sacred 
charge  entrusted  to  their  hands  is  deeply  imperilled,  if  not  even 
already  betrayed  and  prostituted  to  faction  and  anarchy — if  thesa 
acts  can  he  Just  and  right  and  lawful,  and  as  they  allege,  re¬ 
quired  by  the  interests  of  the  Institution,  why  have  they  not  exe¬ 
cuted  their  authority,  and  vindicated .  law  and  justice,  and  rescued 
the  Institution  from  its  present  perilous  and  calamitous  condition, 
and  future  inevitable  ruin,  by  an  immediate  and  manly  recourse 
to  the  proper  Judicial  and  Executive  authorities  of  the  State? 
Why  do  they  still,  only  meet  at  the  expense  of  the  u Insane 
Fund”  'and  whine  and  bark  around  this  institution,  and  find  4 ‘no 
business,”  and  find  no  remedy  for  the  mischief  they'  have  created; 
and  then,  instead  of  acknowledging  their  folly  and  iniquity,  pro¬ 
pose  compromise  through  their  lawyers,  and  adjourn?  One  only 
supposition,  and,  indeed,  it  i£  now  a  demonstrated  truth,  must  an¬ 
swer.  The  laws,  the  facts,  the  interests  of  this  Institution,  and 
the  interests  of  the  State,  did  NOT  require,  but  precluded  revolu¬ 
tion  at  their  bauds.  The  interests' and  pride  and  pledges  of  the 
Dunlap  and  Warren  party  only,  did  require  this  revolution.  They 
and  their  legal  advisers  know  top  well  the  importance  of  shunning 
the  courts,  and  relying  upon  delay,  lawlessness  and  Vexatious  tyr¬ 
anny,  to  effect — if  they  can  effect — the  consummation  of  this  Dun¬ 
lap  and  Warren  Insane  Hospital  Revolution. 

How  long, and  to  what,  extent, shall  such  imbecility  and  lawless¬ 
ness,  tamper  with  and  prostitute  so  grave  a  public  trust? 

Whilst  such  facts  exist,  whilst  this  or  any  other  Board  of  trust, 
continue  to  indict  and  entail  upon  this  noble  monument  of  Stats 
philanthropy,  the  evils  and  distractions  of  the  political  faction  and 
anarchy  which  now  reign  over  and  in  this  home  off  the  afflicted,  the 
members  of  the  community  who  are  eye-witnesses,  whatever  their 
common  repute  for  peace  and  quiet,  cannot,  consistently  with  pub¬ 
lic  honesty  and  sound  morality  and  patriotism,  cease  their  remon¬ 
strance  and  earnest  appeal  to  their  fellow  citizens  of  the  who! a 
State.  Let  the  people,  the  friends  of  iaw,  justice  and  charity, 
see,  hear  and  judge, 

CHAPTER  V. 

*  % .  *  ,  *  1  *  I’jfc 

Dr.  Mahon,  appointed  from  Wabash,  having  died  before  the  if  rst 
meeting  of  the  present  Board,  Benjamin  Pyatt,  of  Morgan,  was 
appointed  in  his  place. 


REVIEW. 


33 


At  this  meeting,  April  5th,  1853,  Messrs.  Win.  Butler,  of  San¬ 
gamon;  Darias  Dexter,  of  Pike;  Wm.  L.  Craven,  Richard  Henry, 
Benjamin  Pyatt,  and  Fleming  Stevenson,  of  Morgan  ;  were  pres¬ 
ent. 

Absent  Daniel  Brainard,  of  Cook  ;  Pleasant  L.  Ward,  of  Gal¬ 
latin  ;  J.  R.  Young,  of  Clark. 

Without  the  preferring  of  any  charges,  examination  of  witnesses, 
or  any  testimony  whatever,  in  their  official  capacity,  the  following 
resolutions  were  offered  by  Mr.  Butler,  and  adopted  by  vote  of 
Messrs.  Butler,  Stevenson,  Pyatt  and  Henry — Messrs.  Dexter  and 
Craven  protesting: 

is  Whereas ,  This  Institution  for  the  relief  of  the' Insane,  has  suffered  material¬ 
ly  in  reputation,  and  also  its  usefulness  has  been  much  impaired  by  reason  of  dif¬ 
ficulties,  and  divisions  existing  between  portions  of  the  several  Boards  of  Trus¬ 
tees  who  have  been  appointed  from  time  to  time,  and  Dr.  Higgins,  the  Medical 
Superintendent  thereof;  and,  whereas,  owing  in  part  to  those  divisions,  the  Board 
of  Trustees  first  appointed,  resigned  their  offices  a3  such,  and  a  new  Board  was 
appointed,  who,  in  consequence  of  the  same  divisions  and  difficulties,  was  again 
dissolved — and  a  new  Board  (the  present  one)  has  been  appointed  ;  and,  whereas, 
this  Board,  (after  mature  reflection,  and  acting  without  regard  to  men,  but  solely 
with  a  view  to  the  good  of  the  Institution,)  are  fullv  convinced  that  the  said 
Medical  Superintendent  does  not  possess  the  kind  of  qualifications  which  are 
necessary  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  said  office  ;  and  that  the  harmony, 
good  management,  usefulness,  and  prosperity  of  the  Institution  demands  a  change 
in  said  office  of  Medical  Superintendent — and  that  without  said  change,  the  heart  y 
c-o-operation  of  the  community  in  which  said  institution  is  situated,  cannot  be 
attained  in  promoting  its  greater  usefulness  ;  therefore, 

i(  Be  it  Resolved ,  That  the  Board  will,  at  the  earliest  practical  period  consis¬ 
tent  with  the  interest  of  the  Institution,  procure  the  services  of  another  Medical 
Superintendent,  who, in  the  estimation  of  the  Board,  shall  be  qualified  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  said  office. 

And  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  Messrs.  Stevenson  and  Butler,  members  of 
said  Board,  be,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  a  committee  to  report  to  a  subse¬ 
quent  meeting  of  the  Board,  the  name  or  names  of  a  suitable  person  or  persons  to 
nil  said  office  of  Medical  Superintendent,  w  ho, together  with  such  person  or  persons 
as  may  be  nominated,  shall  be  voted  for  at  such  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Board, 
until  an  election  is  made. 

“  Resolved ,  That  said  committee  be  instructed  to  report  the  name  of  no  per¬ 
sons  as  a  candidate  for  said  office,  whose  associations  heretofore  have  involved 
him  in  the  slightest  degree,  in  any  of  the  difficulties  or  divisions  connected  with 
the  Institution,  and  that  they  report  the  name  of  some  individual  whose  high 
character  for  intelligence,  capacity,  medical  reputation  and  experience,  cannot 
admit  of  a  question.  Further,  that  said  committee  be  and  they  are  hereby  au¬ 
thorized  and  required  to  know  upon  what  terms  the  services  of  such  an  individu¬ 
al  can  be  procured,  and  that  they  report  to  said  subsequent  meeting  of  this. 
Board  at  their  earliest  convenience. ” 


PROTEST 


Of  the  Minority  of  the,  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Illinois 

State  Hospital  for  the  Insane, 

To  tke  Citizens  of  the  State  of  Illinois  : 

(i  The  undersigned  would  respectfully  represent,  that  it  is  well  knowrn  to  you, 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


34 

that  there  have  been  various  charges  alleged  against  the  Trustees  and  officers  of 
the  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  located  in  Jacksonville. 

The  undersigned  were  appointed  to  the  charge  of  that  trust  without  any  solici¬ 
tation  on  their  part,  or  any  interest  in  these  difficulties,  or  any  knowledge  of 
their  cause. 

We  have  endeavored  to  examine  the  records  of  the  Hospital,  the  public  reports 
and  documents  of  the  State,  and  to  enquire  into  the  actual  efficiency  and  com¬ 
petency  of  the  officers  of  this  institution. 

Wo  soon  became  convinced  from  Ihe  most  unquestionable  public  records  and 
documents,  emanating  from  committees  and  commissions,  speaking  under  the  sol¬ 
emnity  of  their  duties  of  office  and  trust,  that  the  village  faction  to  which  we  re¬ 
fer  in  the  following  protest,  have  heretofore  butloo  well  succeeded  in  misrepre¬ 
senting  and  defaming  the  officers  of  this  institution,  exciting  public  prejudice 
against  them  by  circulating  reports  unfounded  and  slanderous,  thereby  periling 
the  best  interests  of  the  Institution  and  of  the  State,  for  the  sake  of  promoting  their 
own  personal  and  sinister  purposes. 

That  to  this  end  they  have  made  frequent  attempts  at  revblntion  in  this  institu¬ 
tion,  in  known  opposition  to  the  feelings  and  wishes  of  our  fellow  citizens  of  ail 
parties,  as  expressed  in  various  ways'. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  present  Board,  April  5th,  1853,  four  members  of  a 
board  of  nine  ,  in  opposition  to  our  most  urgent  solicitations  and  remonstrances, 
passed  and  put  upon  record  the  following  unprecedented  resolutions.  [See  above] 

Against  these  resolutions  we  felt  it  our  duty  to  enter  our  solemn  protest  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Board.  Three  of  these  members  subjected  our  protest  to  a 
vote,  by  wnfeh  it  was  laid  upon  the  table.  Of  course  we  could  do  nothing  less 
in  such  a  case, than  to  make  our  appeal  to  our  fellow  citizens,  well  knowing  th*t 
ihe  facts  and  interests  involved  in  this  matter  are  of  so  great  importance,  that  we 
should  be  inexcusable  if  we  withheld  thorn  from  the  public. 

We  make  this  appeal, therefore,  with  full  confidence  of  their  approbation  of  our 
course.  DARIUS  DEXTER, 

WM.  L.  CRAVEN. 


PROTEST. 

Tim  undersigned  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  the  Hospital  for  the 
Insane,  cannot  without  violating  a  high  sense  of  right  and  duty,  consent  to  omit 
this  occasion  and  this  only  method  of  self  vindication  and  defense  of  the  legal 
'•afeguards  of  the  Institution  against  the  reprcach  and  danger  of  a  resolution  re¬ 
lating  to  the  qualification!,  Sec.,  of  the  Medical  Superintendent,  offered  by  Mr. 
Butler,  and  voted  for  by  four  members,  and  spread  upon  the  Hospital  records  at 
ihe  last  meeting  of  this  Board,  by  entering  this  our  protest  against  said  resolu¬ 
tion. 

1st.  That  the  first  Board  alluded  to  in  the  resolution  ever  resigned, as  therein  aU 
firmed,  is  untrue.  The  records  of  the  Hospital  show  that  from  time  to  time 
-orne  individual  members  resigned,  but  without  affecting  the  identity  of  the 
Board. 

'•hi.  lhat  the  second  Board  was  dissolved,  as  affirmed  in  the  resolution,  is  whol¬ 
ly  untrue;  its  existence,  according  to  the  Hospital  records,  terminating  only  with 
Ihe  expiration  of  the  term  for  which  it  was  appointed,  in  accordance  with  the 
law  creating  it. 

3d.  That  either  of  these  Boat ds  ever  resigned,  on  was  ever  dissolved,  or  that 
any  members  thereof  ever  resigned  on  account  of  “difficulties’*  or  “divisions” 
personal  or  official,  between  Ihese  Boards,  or  any  of  their  members  and  the  Med¬ 
ical  Superintendent,  is  wholly  untrue,  and  contradicted  by  all  the  know",  facts] 
of  living  witnesses  and  of  the  records  themselves. 

4‘h.  ‘  Ihe  declaration,  that  the  Superintendent  does  not  possetw  the  k.  '> i  o* 


REVIEW. 


35 


qualifications  necessary,  &c.,  being,  as  it  is,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  opin¬ 
ions  and  conclusions  of  former  Boards,  commissions  and  committees,  who  have 
most  thoroughly  investigated  and  sifted  all  the  facts  and  the  testimony  of  sworn- 
witnesses  upon  all  matters  bearing  upon  the  decision  of  this  question,  and  offici¬ 
ally  reported  the  same;  and  being  also  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  testimony  of 
the  facts  which  are  in  the  very  eyes  and  ears  of  the  present  Boaid,  facts  of  the 
most  gratifying  and  encouraging  success  in  the  several  departments  in  which  the 
Superintendent’s  official  duties  have  been  discharged— must  be,  as  this  resolution 
admits,  based  upon  the  “reflections”  of  the  four  members  who  voted  for  it,  ami 
is,  to  say  the  least,  premature,  and  not  based  as  it  should  be  upon  a  thorough  in¬ 
vestigation,  and  the  admission  of  facts  and  conclusions  legitimately  drawn  there¬ 
from. 

5th.  The  law  fixing  the  term  of  the  Medical  Superintendent  for  ten  years, 
was  wisely  intended  to  guard  this  office,  and  thereby  the  Institution,  from  the 
blighting  mischiefs  of  factions,  dissension  and  revolution.  And  a  vacation  of 
this  office,  or  any  form  of  committal  thereto,  based  uponlthe*  mere  “reflections,” 
be  they  “mature”  or  immature,  of  this  or  any  other  Board,  is  an  exercise  of 
power  which  disregards  and  annuls  this  law.  For  if  the  “reflections”  of  this 
Board  after  a  half-hour’s  attention  to  facts,  or  without  any  examination  of  them 
whatever,  or  upon  a  bare  assumption/unsupported  by  facts  and  testimony,  may 
decide  the  question  of  the  legal  conditions  of  removal,  it  is  clear  that  any  and 
every  Board  which  may  be  created  by  any  faction,  sectional  or  political, tempo¬ 
rarily  ascendant,  may  also  by  virtue  of  their  “reflections”  revolutionize  the  In¬ 
stitution  at  pleasure. 

Cth.  Therefore,,  the  action  of  the  four  members  who  voted  for  this  resolution, 
by  which  they  have  virtually  committed  themselves  to  the  removal  of  the  Medi¬ 
cal  Superintendent,  and  irrevocably  to  his  official  degradation,  and  also,  to  an  of¬ 
ficial  incompatibility  with  him,  should  he  continue  in  the  office,  recklessly  based 
upon  such  insufficient  ground,  is  precipitate,  unjust,  illegal  and  highly  dangerous 
1o  the  rights  of  individuals,  and  to  the  interests  of  the  Institution. 

7th.  That  such  a  high  handed  unjustifiable  and  unlawful  course, is  calculated 
to  secure  the  “harmdny,  good  management,  useful  ness  and  prosperity  of  the  In¬ 
stitution,’’  and  the  “hearty  co-operation  Of  the  communit}^  in  which  it  is  situa¬ 
ted”  is  untrue — and,  as  the  four  members,  as  well  as  ourselves,  must  know,  the 
reverse  is  most  sure  to  ensue. 

For  the  above,  and  other  reasons  which  we  will  not  detail  in  this  instrument, 
we  believe  this,  resolution  to  be  untrue,  in  its  leading  declarations,  from  beginning 
lo  end;  and  unwise,  unjust  and  unlawful,  both  in  its  ends,  and  the  methods  by 
which  these  ends  are  to  be  'effected. 

And  furthermore,  from  the  examination  of  the  Hospital  records,  and  other  au¬ 
thentic  documents  of  its  history,  we  are  called  upOn  to  offer  some  positive  pro¬ 
positions,  in  order  more  fully  to  rnake  known  the  grounds  of  action  in  opposing 
this  resolution,  and  to  explain  and  defend  our  course. 

Of  the  former  Board,  alleged  in  this  resolution  to  have  “resigned”  itself 
out  of  existence,  nothing  is  written  having  any  important  bearing  upon  the  is¬ 
sue  now  before  us,  excepting  the  negation  contained  in  our  first  paragraph  above. 
But  of  the  history  of  the  acts  of  the  second  Bpard,  said  to  have  beeivdissoived,” 
a  few”  of  the  voluminous  facts  and  testimonies  pertinent  thereto,  must  serve  to 
illustrate  our  cause. 

1st.  “Difficulties”  and  “divisions”  in  this  Board,  induced  the’Legislature  at  its 
extra  session  in  June,  1852,  to  create  a  commission  of  three  men,  (two  of  whom 
were  physicians,)  selected  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  .with  full  powers  to 
investigate  and  report  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  “superintendence  and  manage¬ 
ment,  of  the  Hos.pita]  for  the  Insane.”  In  this  repor  .,  made  to  the  Legislature 
in  January,  1853,  we  find  the  following  disclosure  of  the  cause  of  these  dissen¬ 
sions  : 

“It  is  to  be  regretted,”  say  these  commissioners,  “that  there  has  not  been  har¬ 
mony  in  the  Board,  the  chief  cause  of  which  has  been  on  account  of  the  offices 
/a  be  filled  and  the  letting  of  contracts;  and  to  such  an  extent  has  this  feeling 
prevailed,  that  only  a  bare  majority  meet  to  transact  business.” 


36 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 

•  2d.  On  the  Hospital  Records,  page  70,  March  1st,  1851, is  found  the  first  notice 

of  this  Board. 

Six  men,  Messrs.  Warren,  Dickson,  Hurst,  Turner,  Morton  and  Becraft,  gave 
bond,  took  the  oath  of  office,  &,c.  And  again,  on  page  73,  (March  7,)  is  recoided 
the  action  of  three  of  these  members,  (viz:  Messrs  Warren,  Dickson  and  Hurst,) 
calling  themselves  a  majority  of  the  Board,  (seven  in  all,)  transacting  its  business 
by  filling  vacancies, and  electing  two  of  themselres, (Messrs.  Warren  and  Hurst,) 
to  the  three  only  offices  of  the  Institution  to  be  filled,  viz:  Secretary,  Treasurer 
and  Steward.  Against  which  proceedings,  we  find  a  protest  of  the  other  three 
above  named  members.  And  these  are  evidently  the  offices  and  the  perquisites 
in  question,  and  reported  by  the  commissioners  as  the  cause  of  the  dissensions 
of  this  Board.  For  on  page  80  a  resolution  is  entered  by  one  of  the  three  mem¬ 
bers  who  attempted  to  organize  this  spurious  Board,  by  which  it  appears,  that  its 
existence  and  acts  had  been  declared  by  the  Governor  and  his  counsel  to  be  ille¬ 
gal — which  resolution  retains  the  above  cited  record,  “as  an  explanation  of  their 
conduct.” 

3d.  Further  on,  we  find  from  the  records  these  same  three  men,  who  on  the 
7th  of  March  constituted  themselves  an  acting  Board,  and  thus  voted  themselves 
into  the  only  three  offices  to  be  filled  in  the  Institution,  to  have  abandoned  the 
meetings  of  the  Board,  and  all  their  duties  therein,  during  the  remaining  half 
of  their  term.  Thus  the  records,  are  in  their  testimony  conjoint  with  the  com¬ 
missioners’  report,  as  obtained  from  oral,  as  well  as  this  and  other  documentary 
proofs,  that  the  cause  of  these  dissensions,  was  not  “difficulties  and  divisions” 
between  any  portion  of  this  Board  and  the  Superintendent,  as  this  resolution  af¬ 
firms,  but  that  it  was  “on  account  of  the  offices  to  be  filled ,  and  the  letting  of  com 
tracts,”  as  the  commissioners  affirm. 

flfe  4th.  The  report  of  this  commission  offers,  also, the  further  conclusions  and  tes¬ 
timony,  appertaining  to  the  other  material  declarations  of  this  resolution,  vari-. 
ouslymade  and  reiterated,  as  if  intended  to  insure  heed  to  these  leading  facts — 
that ‘fin  fact  the  whole  building  [Insane  Hospital]  for  its  architecture,  beauty, 
eiegar.t  and  substantial  workmanship  in  all  of  its  parts,  its  adaptation  to  the  pur¬ 
poses  designed,  is  such  as  will  be  a  credit  to  the  State,  to  the  mechanic  and  officers 
of  the  Institution.”  And  again,  on  another  page — “it  is  admitted  on  all  hands, 
that  in  the  construction  of  the  building,  no  one  could  havegiven  more  satisfaction, 
than  both  the  Medical  and  Mechanical  Superintendents;  nor  were  there  ever  the 
same  amount  of  labor  and  attention  on  the  part  of  all,  for  thesame  compensation.” 
And  again, concerning  the  Medical  Superintendent’s  qualifications  for  other  depart¬ 
ments  of  official  duties,  say  these  commissioners  :  “In  the  treatment  and  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  Insane,  after  the  most  thorough  investigation,  we  have  had  no  facts  in 
the  evidence  prejudicial  to  the  character  of  the  Medical  Superintendent  or  Assist¬ 
ant  Physician.” 

5th.  Such  are  the  results  and  conclusions  arrived  at  by  a  grave  and  responsi¬ 
ble  Legislative  commission,  employed  and  paid  by  the  State,  who  spent  weeks 
in  an  elaborate  investigation,  with  full  powers  to  press  into  their  service  the 
testimony  of  all  facts,  and  persons  under  oath,  in  order  to  wise,  just  and  safe 
conclusions  of  the  important  question  of  the  “superintendence  and  management” 
of  (he  Institution — at  a  time  too,  when  its  buildings  were  about  completed,  and  its 
resident  officers  bad  had  a  year  and  a  half  of  actual  experience  within  its  walls 
for  the  testing  of  their  capacities,  and  the  development  of  facts  of  success  ami 
public  confidence. 

6th.  This  report  so  highly  reputable  to  the  Institution  and  its  officers,  and  so 
highly  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  the  afflicted — based  upon  the  most  authorita¬ 
tive,  reliable  and  sifting  investigation,  has  gone  forth  through  the  Press  and  their 
Representatives,  to  the  people  of  the  whole  State  ;a  most  unquestionable  and  un¬ 
questioned  assurance,  that  their  philanthropic  interests  in  this  Institution  are 
wisely  and  safely  entrusted. 

7.  And  again, in  further  confirmation  of  these  conclusions, a  joint  and  select  com¬ 
mittee  (several  of  whom  were  physicians)  appointed  by  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives, (legislature  of  1853, )to  examine  the  Illinois  State  Hospital  for  the 
’.aaane,  after  rental  of  the  leading  facts  relative  to  the  mechanical  and  medical 


REVIEW, 


87 

Jiuperinlemlence  of  the  Institution,  conclude  :  “This  result,  under  all  the  cir¬ 
cumstances,  is  a  matter  of  just  pride,  and  the  simple  recital  of  the  facts,  is  the 
most  fitting  tribute  to  the  ability  and  efficiency  of  the  Superintendent  and  his  as¬ 
sistants.  The  good  opinions  they  have  won,  it  is  hoped,  by  an  unremitting  assi¬ 
duity  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  they  will  continue  to  deserve. ” 

And  when,  now — within  a  few  weeks  thereafter — this  new  Board,  officially 
and  most  of  them  personally  unacquainted  with  the  affairs  of  the  Institution  and  its 
officers,  and  without  any  attempt  at  investigating  thoroughly  for  themselves,  and 
within  less  than  twenty-four  hours  after  their  organization,  (some  of  whom  had 
never  before  in  their  lives  seen  the  inside  of  this  or  any  other  Insane  Hospital, 
and  all  of  whom  were  professedly  inexperienced  and  ignorant  of  the  whole  sub¬ 
ject,)  thus  set  at  naught  and  defiance,  facts  documents,-  and  conclusions, such,  and 
of  such  authority,  as  the  foregoing,  even  if  there  were  no  other,  by  declaring  the 
Institution  to  have  “suffered  materially  in  reputation  and  usefulness;"’ — and  this, 
because  of  the  incompetency  of  the  Superintendent  and  his  incompatibility  with 
former  Boards;  and  thereupon  commit  themselves,  not  to  investigation  and  proof 
that  former  Boards,  committees,  commissions,  facts,  documents,  and  conclusions 
were  all  wrong — but  directly  to  the  degradation  and  removal  of  that  officer;  and 
thus  acting  in  defiance, also,  of  the  legal  guards  against  such  removal — we  must 
be  pardoned,  that  we  confess  ourselves  driven,  though  reluctantly,  upon  the  con¬ 
clusion,  that  the  precipitate,  unwise,  unjust  and  unlawful  character  of  this  reso¬ 
lution,  betrays  upon  its  very  face,  the  unmistakable  indications  of  a  most  suspi¬ 
cious  paternity;  and  of  an  ultimate  subserviency  to  the  well  known  will  and 
purposes  of  a  well  known  diminutive  faction,  that  have  heretofore  so  notorious¬ 
ly  figured  upon  the  records  and  various  other  public  documents  of  the  history  of 
this  Institution,  and  whose  interests  and  ends  in  this,  as  in  other  attempts,  disre  ¬ 
gard  alike  the  sanctity  of  the  law, and  the  humane  interests  it  should  protect, as  op¬ 
posed  to  the  will,  interests  and  purposes,  as  we  believe,  of  the  great  body  of  the 
people  of  this  community  and  of  the  whole  State;  and  we  therefore  deem  it  a 
duty, not  to  be  shunned  through  any  personal  preferences  for  avoiding  the  respon  ¬ 
sibility  we  thus  incur,  to  place  this  our  solemn  protest  against  said  resolution 
upon  the  records  of  the  Hospital. 

DARIUS  DEXTER. 

WM.  L.  CRAVEN. 

•  CHAPTER  VI. 

To  fill  the  vacancies  of  Messrs.  Young,  and  Brainard,  Chas.  II. 
Lanphier  and  Simeon  Francis,  of  Springfield,  having  been  appoin¬ 
ted  by  the  Governor,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  revolution 
explained  in  the  previous  chapters, and  entered  upon  in  the  resolu¬ 
tions  of  April  5th,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  at  the 
called  meeting  of  the  Board,  June  4th,  and  6th. 

Present. — William  Butler,  Fleming  Stevenson,  William  L, 
Craven,  Pleasant  L.  Ward,  Richard  Henry,  Benjamin  Pyatt, 
Simeon  Francis. 

Absent. — Darius  Dexter,  Charles  H.  Lanphier. 

At  the  Session  of  the  4th,  the  Committee  appointed  at  the  pre¬ 
vious  meeting  to  examine  the  financial  condition  of  the  Institution, 
was  excused  from  serving  on  the  ground  that  this  had  been  done 
by  previous  Boards. 

A  Carpenter  was  appointed  by  the  Board,  with  a  salary  of 
$600  a  year — other  unimportant  business  ‘transacted. 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


,18 


“Monday  morning,  June  6, 1853. 

“The  Board  met  pursuant  to  adjournment. 

Present — the  same  Trustees  as  on  Saturday. 

Dr.  Higgins  asked  the  privilege  of  making  a  statement  to  the  Board;  which 
was  accorded  to  him. 

“Dr.  Higgins  then  made  a  statement  and  presented  a  report  containing  charge* 
against  the  Steward  of  the  Institution;  which  was  ordered  to  be  filed,  and  copies, 
of  the  same  be  furnished  Dr.  Higgins  and  Mr.  Henry — the  subject  to  be  acted 
upon  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board.  Adopted  nem.  «on. 

“Mr.  Craven  presented  a  printed  protest  and  asked  that  it  be  received  and 
spread  upon  the  journals  of  the  Board. 

“On  motion  of  Mr.  Francis. 

Resolved,  That  the  protest  be  received  and  filed  among  the  papers  of  the  Board 
for  future  action. 

“On  this  motion  the  yeas  and  nays  were  as  follows  : 

“Yeas — Mr.  Butler,  Mr.  Francis,  Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Pyatt,  Mr.  Ward,  Mr.  Ste¬ 
venson.  Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

“On  motion  of  Mr.  Francis, 

Resolved,  That  the  usual  rules  of  parliamentary  bodies  govern  the  proceedings 
of  this  Board, — carried. 

“Mr.  Craven  moved  that  a  portion  of  the  organic  law  be  read:  which  was 
done. 

Dr.  Higgins  made  a  statement  to  the  Board. 

Mr.  Butler  offered  a  series  of  resolutions. 

Mr.  Craven  moved  that  the  question  be  taken  on  the  resolutions  separately. — 
Carried. 

Mr.  Francis  moved  the  previous  question,  on  all  the  resolutions,  which  was 
sustained. 

The  President  stated  that  the  question  was  on  the  preamble  and  1st  resolution, 
as  follows  : 

Whereas  at  a  meeting  of  thisBoard  held  on  the  14th  of  April,  1853,  a  preamble 
and  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Board  in  relation  to  the  Medical  Superinten¬ 
dent  of  the  Illinois  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane, Dr.  James  M.  Higgins, declaring 
their  intention  to  remove  him  from  said  office  of  Medical  Superintendent,  for 
reasons  therein  stated,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  consistent  with  the  in- 
ierest3  of  the  Institution  ;  Therefore, 

1st.  Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board  the  interests  of  the  Institu¬ 
tion  require  the  immediate  removal  of  Dr.  James  M.  Higgins, the  Medical  Super¬ 
intendent  of  this  institution. 

The  preamble  and  resolution  were  adopted  by  yeas  and  nays,  as  follows:. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

2d.  Resolved,  That  James  M.  Higgins,  Medical  Superintendent  of  the  Illin¬ 
ois  Stale  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  be  and  hereby  is,  removed  from  said  office,  and 
the  said  offme  of  Medical  Superintendent  for  the  Illinois  State  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  is  declared  vacant.  Adopted. 

Yeas— Messrs.  Butler,  Francis*  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

3d.  Resolved,  That  Fleming  Stevenson,  Win.  Butler,  and  Benjamin  Pyatt, 
be  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  a  committee  to  audit  and  settle  the  accounts 
with  Dr.  James  M.  Higgins,  late  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  State  Hospital 
for  the  Insane. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

4th.  Resolved,  That  Dr.  II.  K.  Jones,  assistant  Physician  in  the  Institution, 
be  auihorized  and  required  to  perform  the  duties  of  Superintendent  as  required 
by  the  Organic  aud  By  Laws  of  this  Institution,  until  a  Superintendent  shall  be 
appointed  and  enter  upon  the  performance  of  his  duties;  and  while  he  performs 


BBYIE  W, 


Bk>s«  duties  he  shall  receive  the  same  salary  as  was  received  by  the  late  Superin¬ 
tendent. 

Resolution  adopted.. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt.  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

5th.  Ordered,  That  there  shall  be  a  Housekeeper  appointed  for  the  Institu¬ 
tion,  who  shall  hold  her  office  for  two  years,  and  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take 
charge  of  the  washing,  ironing  and  cooking  departments,  and  in  conjunction  with 
the  Steward,  shall  see  that  the  supply  of  food  is  abundant,  varied,  well  cooked, 
end  neatly  served  in  the  dining  room  of  the  Institution;  she  will  have  entire 
supervision  of  the  dining  rooms  under  the  direction  of  the  Superintendent. — 
The  Matron  of  the  Institution  shall  be  and  hereby  is  relieved  from  the  duties  es¬ 
pecially  assigned  by  this  order  to  the  Housekeeper.  The  salary  of  the  House¬ 
keeper  shall  be  two  hundred  dollars  a  year;  and  she  shall  have  control  of  the 
necessary  number  of  domestics  to  enable  her  to  perform  the  duties.  Order 
adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

Oth.  Resolved,  That  Mrs.  Isabella  Henry,  wife  of  John  Henry,  be  appointed, 
and  hereby  is  appointed,  Housekeeper  for  the  Institution  for  two  years. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

7Ui.  Resolved,  That  as  the  removal  of  the  Medical  Superintendent  creates  a 
vacancy  in  the  office  of  Matron,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Jones  be  requested,  and  is  author¬ 
ized,  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  office.until  the  appointment  of  a  Medical  Su¬ 
perintendent  of  the  Institution;  and  tint  she  shall  receive  the  same  salary  for  W 
services  as  was  received  by  the  late  Matron. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

Sth.  Resolved,  That  the  R  s.  d  appoint, two  persons  and  the  Governor  be  re¬ 
spectfully  requested  to  appoint'  a  third,  to  act  as  a  committee  in  procuring  the 
services  of  an  individual  of  high  character  and  qualifications  to  fill  the  office  of 
Medical  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  and  that 
they  be  authorized  and  are.  hereby  authorized  to  contract  with  such  person  to 
fill  said  office  and  to  pay  him  a  salary  adequate  to  his  services;  and  the  Board 
hereby  pledged  themselves  to  sustain  the  action  of  such  committee. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatfc,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

9th.  Resolved,  Tha+  in  c  -e  a  vacancy  shall  occur  in  said  committee,  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  be  respectfully  requested  to  fill  the  same. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  F  'mcis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

10  th.  Resolved,  Thai;  d  s  Boar  ft  q  n  1  Simeon  Francis  and  Charles  A, 

Lanphier  as  (he  aforesaid  oominitfee  oh.  their  part.  , 

Resolution  adopted., 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craved. 

Utb.  Resolved,  That  for  hi  ft  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the  objects  spe¬ 
cified  in  re-olution  numbered  eight,  the  Treasurer  be  authorized  to  pay  out  to  the 
Committee  appointed  to  carry  the  resolution  into  effect,  a  sum  not  exceeding  five 
hundred  dollars. 

Resolution  adopted,'' 

Yeas — Messrs;  Cutler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  C  raven,  ‘ 

12th.  Resolved,  That  when  the  Chapel'af  this  Institution  is  finished, the  Super  in  • 


40 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


tendent  be  authorized,  when  the  condition  of  the  patients  will  permit,  to  in  vile 
the  clergymen  of  the  town  to  perforin  religious  services  therein. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

14th.  Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  be  instructed  to  furnish  a 
copy  of  the  preamble  and  resolutions,  No’s.  2  and  3  to  Dr.  James  M.  Higgins; 
also  a  copy  of  the  order  numbered  5,  and  resolution  numbered  G.  to  Mrs.  Isabel¬ 
la  Henry;  also  resolution  numbered  7,  to  Mrs.  Crocker  and  to  Mrs.  Jones;  and 
also  copies  of  resolutions  No’s.  8,  9  and  10  respectively,  to  (he  Governor  of 
this  State,  to  Simeon  Francis  and  Charles  H.  Lanphier,  duly  attested  and  signed 
by  the  President  of  this  Board  and  its  Secretary. 

15th.  Resolved,  That  the  Prudential  Committee  inform  Wm.  T.  Cox,  of 
his  election  by  this  Board  as  Carpenter  for  this  Institution. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson  and  Ward. 

Nay — Mr.  Craven. 

Mr.  Francis  offered  the  following  resolution. 

Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  Board,  be  authorized  to  make  any  tempo¬ 
rary  arrangement  with  Dr.  Higgins,  inrelatioirto  the  removal  of  his  family  from 
the  Institution. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  and  Ward. 

Nays — Messrs.  Craven  and  Stevenson. 

Mr.  Stevenson  offered  the  following  order: 

Ordered,  That  Dr.  James  M.  Higgins,  be  allowed  *the  sum  of  two  hundred 
dollars,  for  the  deduction  made  by, former  Board  in  his'salary  of  one  thousand, 
dollars,  which  deduction  took  place  since  the  opening  of  the  Institution. 

Resolution  adopted. 

Yeas — Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Stevenson,  and  Ward. 

The  Bills  of  Wm.  Butler,  Simeon  Francis,  and  Pleasant  L.  Ward  on  ac¬ 
count  of  expenses  as  Trustees  were  presented. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Pyatt,  the  bills  were  allowed. 

On  motion  the  Board  adjourned.” 

_  o 


“PUBLIC  PROTEST. 

4  ,  y  ( 

Illinois  Hospital  for  Insane,  ) 

June  13tli,  1853.  \ 

‘•The  By-Laws  of  this  Institution  require  that  the  Board  shall  hold  quarterly 
meetings  on  the  second  Mondays  in  December,  March, June,  and  September.  At 
the  meeting  on  Monday  last,  when  removals  without  cause  were  rife  and  hardly 
anything  else  seemed  lo  be  thought  of,  it  was  distinctly  understood,  that  a  meet¬ 
ing  would  be  held  on  this  the  2d  Monday  of  J  une, according  to  the  by-laws  just  cjuo- 
ted.  I  emphatically  announced  to  that  Board,  that  I  should  have  important  bu¬ 
siness  to  present  on  this  day.  I  have  been  in  attendance  here  nearly  all  day,  but 
not  one  of  the  six  revolutionizers  has  come  near.  The  previous  question  having 
been  placed  upon  all  the  resolutions  acted  upon  at  said  meeting,  I  could  not  at 
that  time  even  offer  an  objection  to  their  unprecedented  and  unlawful  course  con¬ 
cocted  in  midnight  caucus.  I  determined  at  once,  as  my  only  alternative,  to  pre¬ 
sent  at  the  next  meeting,  as  we  had  been  driven  to  do  on  a  former  occasion,  a  sol¬ 
emn  protest  against  their  high  handed  and  lawless  measures;  and  accordingly, 
had  prepared, the  following  document,  intending  to  ask  for  it  a  place  on  the  Re¬ 
cords,  with  little  or  no  expectation,  however,  of  its  meeting  with  more  favor 
ubari  cur  former  protest  received.  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  insisting  upo-t 


REVIEW. 


41 


Hiis,  my  right,  as  there  has  been  no  meeting  of  the  Board}  and  since  their  pro¬ 
ceedings,  against  which  I  desire  to  enter  my  protest,  have  been  published  in  sev¬ 
eral  papers  and  sent  throughout  the  State,!  owe  it  to  myself, as  well  as  to  my  fel¬ 
low  citizens  whose  interests  l  am  set  to  guard  and  protect,  to  present  this  tlocu- 
ment  to  the  public  through  the  same  medium  in  which  the  doings  of  the  majority 
appeared.  WM.  L.  CRAVEN. 


“PROTEST. 

“I|protest  against  the  action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  for^the  Hospital  for  the 
Insane,  on  the  Oth  of  June,  1853,  in  their  attempt  to  remove  from  office,  the  Su¬ 
perintendent  and  Matron  of  the  Institution,  &c.,  because — 

1st.  The  law  provides  that  “the  Superintendent  shall  be  appointedfor  a  terra 
of  ten  years,”  and  “He  shall  be  subject  to  removal  only  for  infidelity  to  the  trust 
reposed  in  him,  or  incompetency  to  the  discharge  thereof.” 

This  provision  of  the  charter  of  the  Institution  was  introduced  by  the  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  people  of  the  State,  at  the  earnest  recommendation  of  that  em¬ 
inent  philanthropist,  Miss  Dix,  for  the  express  and  avowed  purpose  of  preventing 
precisely  such  revolutions  and  consequent  catastrophes  to  the  patients  themselves, 
as  this  Board  are  now  attempting  to  effect. 

2d.  This  action  of  the  Board  is  not  only  in  open  violation  of  the  fundamen¬ 
tal  law  of  the  Institution,  and  extremely  perilous  to  its  best  present  interests, 
and  as  a  precedent, to  all  its  future  interests, and  to  the  safety  and  well  being  of  all 
similar  Institutions  in  the  Slate;  but  it  is  also  eminently  unjust  to  the  Superin¬ 
tendent,  his  reputation,  his  family,  and  friends;  as  no  charge  of  either  incom¬ 
petency  or  infidelity  has  been,  or  even  attempted  to  be  sustained  against  him.  It 
lay*,  not  only  Dr.  Higgins,  but  all  other,  and  all  future  Superintendents,  and  of¬ 
ficers  of  the  Institution, wholly  at  the  mercy  of  any  selfish,  revolutionary  or  dis- 
organiz.ing  political,  local  or  social  clique.  And  under  such  a  rule  of  adminis¬ 
tration,  no  man  fit  for  the  station,  or  who  has  any  regard  for  his  character,  or  the 
standing  of  his  family,  or  the  feelings  of  his  friends,  will  ever  be  induced  to  con¬ 
nect  himself  with  such  stations. 

3d.  The  following  are  the  charter  provisions,  and  the  only  legal  provisions 
for  the  appointment  of  all  officers  and  persons  to  this  Institution,,  viz  :  charter 
act,  sec.  2.  They  [the  Trustees]  shall  appoint  the  Superintendent,  Assistant 
Physician  and  Steward,  and  fix  the  amount  of  their  salaries  &c. 

Sec.  8th  of  the  same — “The  Superintendent  shall  appoint  and  exercise  entire 
control  over  all  subordinate  officers  and  assistants  in  this  Institution ,  and  shall  have 
entire  direction  of  the  duties  of  the  same.”  Therefore  the  Matron  of  this  insti¬ 
tution,  cannot  be  appointed  or  removed  by  a  Board  of  Trustees,  nor  can  an  office 
be  created  within  this  Institution  or  an  appointment  made  to  such  office  by  a  Board 
of  Trustees. 

4th.  I  therefore  protest  against  the  action  of  this  Board,  in  declaring  the  Mat¬ 
ron’s  office  vacated,  as  unlawful  in  the  attempt,  and  also  as  untrue  in  fact  whilst 
*he  has  neither  been  discharged  by,  nor  tendered  her  resignation  to  a  Superinten¬ 
dent  of  the  Hospital.  And  I  also  protest  against  the  request,  that  Airs.  Lizzie 
Jones  discharge  the  duties  of  Matron,  as  a  mere  ruse  designed  to  pull  the  wool 
over  the  eyes  of  their  mutual  friends  and  blind  and  mislead  the  public  mind. 

5th.  I  also  protest  against  the  appointment  of  Mrs.  Henry,  the  wife  of  the 
Steward  as  houskeeper — first,  because  the  Statute  above  quoted  absolutely  re¬ 
quires  that  the ‘  ‘Superintendent  shall  appoint,  and  exercise  entire  control  over  all 
subordinate  officers  and  assistants  in  this  Institution,”  and  therefore  the  Board 
had  no  right  to  make  any  such  appointment — and  second — because  if  so,  she  is  a 
iadv,  however  worthy  in  other  in  respects,  generally  believed  to  be  totally 
unfit  for  any  such  place. 

6th.  I  furthermore  solemnly  protest  against  the  appropriation  of  $500  of  tho 
fund  which  the  people  have  paid  for  the  sacred  purpose  of  supporting  the  Insauo, 


42 


INSANE  HOSPITAL 


to  defray  the  expenses  of  certairpTrustees  on  pleasure  excursions  east,  for  the 
ostensible  purpose  of  hunting  up  a  Superintendent  to  fill  a  vacancy  which  doe* 
not  exist  either  in  law  or  in  fact,  and  whilst  the  Institution  is  acknowledgedjoa 
all  hands  to  be  in  a  highly  prosperous  condition  under  its  existing  administra¬ 
tion* 

I  protest  against  the  indirect  consequences  of  these  acts  for  important  reasons 
indicated  in  the  following  facts. 

1.  Grave  and  serious  charges  alleged  to  be  fully  susceptible  of  proof,  some  of 
which  were  brought  forward  befoie  \he  Commissioners  of  the  Legislature,  were 
again  presented  in  full  to  the  present  Board  by  the  Superintendent,  against  the 
present  Steward,  John  Henry,  but  were  not  even  honored  with  a  perusal  by  these 
present  guardians  of  State  interests. 

2.  It  is  equally  well  known,  that  the  conduct  of  the  Matron  of  the  Institution 
has  been  eminently  satisfactory  to  all  parties  within  the  institution,  and  especial¬ 
ly  to  the  afflicted  patients  and  their  afflicted  friends  abroad — with  the  single  ex¬ 
ception,  among  all  parties  within  and  without,  of  the  said  John  Henry,  and  per¬ 
haps  a  few  of  his  personal  friends — and  that  no  charge  rests  against  her  in  any  other 
quarter — not  even  that  of  “unpopularity”  still,  though  the  attention  of  this  Board 
was  often  called  to  the  obvious  incompetency  and  delinquencies  of  Mr.  Henry, 
they  have  taken  not  the  least  notice  of  the  facts,  but  in  hot  haste  proceeded  to 
thrust  out  Mrs.  Crocker  without  charge  and  without  fault,  and  in  violation  of 
the  authority  of  the  law,  and  retain  John  Henry  with  distinctly  alleged  facts 
against  him  unheeded  and  unread  in  their  hands. 

3.  Now, it  is  known,  that  this  Steward  has  been  for  some  eighteen  months  offi¬ 
cially  and  personally  hostile  to  the  Superintendent  and  Matron,  and  that  a  few 
clays  previous  to  this  meeting  of  the  Board,  he  threatened  in  presence  of  a  respon¬ 
sible  citizen  of  Jacksonville,  that  ‘fevery  officer  of  the  Institution  ^excepting  the 
Assistant  Physician)  should  take  knapsack  and  leave  the  Institution,  if  he  had 
to  go  to  the  Legislature  to  effect  it.  This  has  been  in  substance  variously  re¬ 
peated  to  others.  He  has  also  declared  to  persons  on  the  square,  that  “he  had 
from  the  first  laid  his  finger  on  the  Matron  and  had  made  it  tele,  too.”  And 
when  now  the  fact  is  considered,  that  this  disaffected  Steward  was  invited,  and 
actually.met  in  caucus  with  the  members  who  voted  the  removal  resolutions,  and 
that  he  continued  in  close  conclave  with  them  till  11  or  12  o’clock,  the  Satur¬ 
day  night  prior  to  the  meeting  which  adopted  the  resolutions,  and  that  then  and 
there, he  had  full  opportunity  to  tell  clandestinely,  such  tales  respecting  the  fated 
officers,  more  especially  the  Matron,  as  was  best  calculated  to  carry  out  his 
threat — even  the  public  can  scarcely  be  left  to  mere  conjecture  as  to  the  source 
of  this  otherwise  unaccountable  precipitancy  in  ridding  the  Institution  of  the 
valuable  and  valued  services  of  Mrs.  Crocker — indeed  the  conclusion  of  an  ob- 
yious  and  barefaced  favoritism  toward  this  Steward  is  almost,  if  not  even  quite 
irresistible;  the  practical  present  effects  of  which  would  be  to  displace  the  very 
officers  of  the  Institution  against  whom  no  charges  whatever  have  been  prepared, 
and  retain  the  one  against  whom  they  have  been.  Its  future  effects  and  it3  obvious 
intentions  may  be  easily  seen  through. 

For  these  and  other  such  reasons,  I  enter  a  solemn  protest  against  this  entire 
action  of  that  meeting,  and  demand  that  it  be  spread  upon  Ihe  records  of  the  Hos¬ 
pital.  WM.  L.  CRAVEN.” 

The  publication  of  these  resolutions  created  an  intense  public 
indignation  in  Jacksonville — one  hundred  and  eighty  ladies  united 
in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Crocker,  the  Matron  of  the  Institution,  ex¬ 
pressing  their  regret  at  the  course  of  the  Trustees,  their  confidence 
in  her  peculiar  adaptedness  to  the  place,  and  the  hope,  that  sin; 
would  remain  in  the  discharge  of  her  duties  until  sustained  or  dis¬ 
placed  by  due  course  of  law. 

Various  communications  appeared  in  the  Morgan  Journal,  dis- 


REVIEW. 


43 


•cussing  the  law  points,  and  ashing  how  six  Trustees  of  this  Insti¬ 
tution  could  consent  to  trample  law  and  justice  underfoot,  and  at 
the  same  time  vote  themselves  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be  taken 
from  the  fund  for  the  unfortunate  insane,  raised  by  taxes  upon 
the  whole  people;  and  that  too  in  view  of  their  solemn  oaths,  for 
the  faithful  discharge  of  their  duty,  and  heavy  bonds  besides. 

Here  they  rested,  so  far  as  the  official  action  of  the  Trustees 
was  concerned,  until  the  19th  of  July.  The  Superintendent  and 
Matron  had  both  written  letters  to  the  Board,  declining  to  recog¬ 
nize  the  authority  of  their  illegal  action  and  announcing  their 
determination  to  remain  at  their  posts,  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duty.  The  public  sentiment  was  calling  loudly  for  some  final 
action  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees  that  they  should  either  execute 
their  revolutionary  attempt,  or  abandon  it  as  confessedly  illegal, 
as  well  as  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the  Institution,  and 
in  defiance  of  the  official  testimony  already  quoted. 

On  the  second  day  of  their  session,  July  20,  1853 — Present — 
Messrs.  Butler,  Francis,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Lanphier,  and  Stevenson. 
Absent — Messrs.  Craven,  Dexter  and  Ward. 

“  On  Motion  of  Mr.  Butler  : 

Resolved ,  That  notice  be  given  to  John  Henry,  the  Steward,  that  an  investigation 
of  said  charges  will  be  made  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board,  which  will  be 
held  on  the  first  Monday  of  August,  next.  *  *  .  *  *  *  * 

“Mr.  Butler  offered  the  following  preamble  ami  orders  : 

Wi-iereas,  After  the  removal  of  James  M.  Higgins,  Superintendent  of  this 
Institution,  on  6th  cf  June,  1853,  he  desired  of  this  Board  that  he  should  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  remain  in  the  Institution  a  short  time,  until  he  could  get  a  house  for  his 
family,  (said  Higgins  observing  that  his  own  house  was  then  rented  out,)  and 
whereas,  since  that  time,  said  Higgins  has  determined  to  resist  his  said  removal, 
and  still  continues  in  and  about  said  Institution,  to  the  subversion  of  proper  order 
and  discipline  in  the  same,  whilst  there;  is  subsisting  himself  and  family  upon 
funds  set  apart  for  the  unfortunate  thereof  ;  it  is 

Ordered ,  That  the  Secretary  notify  said  {.Higgins  to  remove  himself  and  fam¬ 
ily  and  effects  from  the  premises  of  the  Institution,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of 
August,  proximo. 

Ordered,  That  Dr.  H.  K.  Jones,  the  acting  Superintendent  of  this  Institution, 
John  Henry,  the  Steward  thereof,  and  all  others  employed  in  or  about  the  same, 
he,  and  they  are  hereby  forbidden  to  recognize  any  of  the  acts  of  James  M.  Hig¬ 
gins,  or  to  obey  any  order  or  orders  issued  or  given  by  him  in  any  way  touching 
the  affairs  of  this  Institution;  and  it  is  further  ordered,  that  Dr.  H.  K.  Jones, 
the  acting  Superintendent,  the  Steward,  and  Treasurer,  and  each  and  every  one  of 
them  are  hereby  instructed  and  forbidden  to  issue,  indorse  or  pay  any  order  in 
favor  of  James  M,  Higgins  until  a  final  settlement  is  made  with  him,  in  pursuance 
of  a  former  order  of  this  Board.  It  is  further 

“Ordered,  That  said  officers  are  forbidden  to  issue,  endorse  or  pay  any  order 
in  favor  of  any  person,  or  persons,  other  than  those  employed  by  the  acting  Su¬ 
perintendent  and  Steward;  and  they  notify  every  person  claiming  to  be  employ- 
M  under  the  authority  of  James  M.  Higgins,  late  Superintendent,  that  they  will 
not  be  recognized  or  paid  by  this  Institution. 

Which  preamble  and  orders,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Francis,  were  unanimously 
adopted. 

Iu  view  of  these  “orders,”  Dr.  Higgins  sent  them  a  letter  of 


44 


INSANE  E0PFITA3. 


defiiance,  accusing  them  of  eight  distinct  violations  of  law 
declaring  his  intention  to  “reside  in  the  Institution  as  the  law  di¬ 
rects,  to  perform  the  duties  of  my  office  to  the  best  of  my  abili¬ 
ty,  until  ousted  by  due  process  of  law ,  or  until  it  expires , 
or  until  1  resign  it.'J 

The  first  day  of  August  came-,  and  with  it  a  meeting  of  the 
Board . 

Present — Messrs.  Butler,  Henry,  Pyatt,  Ward  and  Stevenson. 

Absent — Messrs.  Craven,  Dexter,  Francis  andLanphier. 

********** 

a  Mr.  Butler  moved  that  any  action  in  relation  to  the  charges  against  (be  Stew¬ 
ard  should  he  deferred  until  a  full  meeting  of  the  Board  shall  be  in  attendance, 
which  was  agreed  to. 

Adjourned  to  meet  at  8  o?elock. 

The  Board  met  at  8  o'clock,  p.  m. 

“  Present  the  same  members  as  at  the  previous  meeting.  There  being  ko  nt  «i- 
ni:sh  before  the  Board,  I)r.  Jone^,  acting  Superintendent,  being  present;  at  the 
request  of  the  Trustees,  made  some  remarks  relating  to  the  affairs  of  the  Hospital. 
After  further  discussion  relative  to  the  financial  and  other  concerns  of  the  Insti¬ 
tution  the  Board,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Pyatt,  adjourned  to  meet  again  on  the  second 
Monday  in  September. ” 

No' Business  before  the  Board,  after  their  orders  of  July  20th. 
and  Dr.  Higgins  letter  of  defiance, with  the  Institution  in  the  disor¬ 
ganized  condition,  into  which  their  action  of  May  Oth,  had  thrown 
it !  ' 


